When Pigs Fly
by Techno-Poet
Summary: Kit and Nita are on active, and this is the day they find out who they're assisting and why...will they enjoy their day helping those in need? Can Pigs actually fly? Find out! Rated T for safety. Chapter 12 is up! And now, this story is completed...
1. No Way!

Disclaimer: Diane Duane owns YW, not me.

**Chapter One—**_**No Way!**_

The golden early dawn light streamed in through the semi-closed curtains in the bedroom of a sixteen year old girl, who would prefer it stay outside and let her sleep, thank you very much.

The girl groaned, mumbled something incomprehensible about planetoids, and rolled over, falling back asleep. An hour or so later, she remembered what today was. Today, was _Saturday_.

"Oh my gosh!" She sat up hurriedly; and literally leapt out of bed. _What time is it, _the girl mused, fumbling around her desk for her watch.

8:40

_Nuts! I'm dead. I've got twenty minutes until I have to be at the beach…_

She showered as fast as possible, and dressed in her usual style: old beat-up jeans, and a T-shirt. She brushed her long auburn hair quickly, and went to collect her supplies. She grabbed her old beat up library book (a necessary accessory) and her jacket, before intentionally disappearing.

She appeared at the beach, and quickly scanned the area, taking in the cool ocean breeze, and the scent of salt water: a perfect aroma to stimulate her senses, and awaken her mind.

"Hey Nita!"

She turned around, and grinned at the tall, Hispanic boy standing behind her. He was wearing jeans, and a white T-shirt, clean and unstained. He grinned back at her, before stepping a little closer, so that they could look at each other properly.

"Kit," Nita said simply, and surprising both herself and him, hugged her wizard partner. She could feel Kit's smile, as he hugged her back, hard.

"I missed you so much!" Nita exclaimed, pulling back from him, so she could look at him again.

"I missed you too," Kit replied.

They looked at each other with smiles of friends who have been parted for a long time. It had been three weeks since they had seen each other, and for them, that was a very long time indeed.

"Kit, I tried to get your coordinates while you were on vacation, but you seemed to be moving around a lot, from place to place, and it was hard to trace. And even then, with that promise…"

"I know, it seems so ridiculous. Your parents and my parents _both_ made me promise not to just _give_ you the coordinates. I guess they really wanted us to have time apart, this time."

"I guess. But Kit, you have no idea how glad I am to see you! Those weeks seemed like forever."

"I know what you mean. But we'd better hurry, the wizards said they'd meet us near the inlet, so we'd better get walking if we want to make it there on time."

They set off walking down the beach, talking about their summers so far, and how boring it had been the past couple of weeks, their feet sinking into the golden sand as they tread across it. The water sparkled as the waves rolled around in the tide.

"Neets?"

"Hmm?"

"I was just wondering…if you've ever thought about the future…you know, what is to come."

Nita turned towards Kit. "Your parents didn't hit you with another one of those, 'prepare for the future' lectures, did they?"

"No!" Kit said defensively, "I've just…it's just something I've been thinking about lately. Something I've been thinking _a lot_ about lately," he said, correcting himself.

They stopped walking, and Nita comfortingly lay a hand on Kit's shoulder. "If you're worried about the future, just believe me, everything's going to be alright, and worrying never helps." _Believe me, _she thought to herself, _I would know…_

Kit looked at her, with an expression similar to shock. "Hey," he said aloud, "I heard that." Nita looked bewildered. "I thought that had stopped happening, at least mostly. Wow, that's the first time we've heard each other's thoughts in months!"

_Oh no, _Kit thought, _she said, 'each other's' thoughts. Did that mean that she could hear mine as well? Wonder what she heard._

"Kit, you're spacing out on me again. Are you alright?"

"What? Oh, sure Nita, I'm fine. Look, there's Tom, down by the water." Kit broke away from their conversation to run up to Tom. Nita simply shook her head and sighed, watching him. Then, she went after him.

"Hey Tom."

"Hey Kit. Oh, and hi Nita," Tom added, as Nita came up behind Kit.

"Ready to get started?"

"Yeah," both Nita and Kit answered, then smiled at each other, and unintentionally shared a thought about how they had spoken at the same time accidentally. Tom watched the mind-touch in silence, understanding and sensing their nervousness at being that close again.

"Anyway," Tom started again, snapping Nita and Kit's attentions back to the reality, "We need to get started. I assume you two know what's going on?"

Nita and Kit looked at each other, and shook their heads. "We were just told that we needed to report here this morning, and that further instructions would follow," said Nita.

"Well, since you haven't been told, I'll have to explain. Today you two have been assigned to help out those in need of…assistance. Kit, you're going to be working with me, Nita…just wait for a moment…ah, here he--uh, it--is now!"

A flash of pale blue light blinded them for a second, leaving them blinking in the sunlight, which seemed dim in comparison to the blue light. Nita's mouth dropped open, and she realized who had appeared. _No way,_ she thought, and earned a glance from Kit, who had heard her.

"Ah, Chiao, how good to see you," said Tom, and then to Nita, "Nita, you will be working with Chiao here. Chiao, meet Nita Callahan, Nita, this is Chiao, the Transcendent Pig."

"We've met already," said Chiao simply, looking, as always, vaguely amused by its surrounding and companions. "Good to see you, Nita Callahan."

Nita smiled at it steadily, and then greeted it. "Hi," she said, "what-" but she got no further, as the Pig cut her off. "If this is another attempt at 'what is the meaning of Life,' I don't want to hear it. I'm having enough of that now, with all of the meetings I'm going to, and with all of the wizards I'm talking to, and as I have said, I'm _not_ going to slip up, and tell."

_What? _Kit thought, _Neets, it's using the present tense again. All the meetings it's 'going to?' as in currently? And it's talking to wizards at the moment, as in now? Wait, even _that_ didn't make sense…_

Nita chuckled quietly to herself. _You didn't look up the definition of 'transcendent' yet, did you? _she shot back to him.

_You kidding, _Kit replied, _I can't even spell it…_

"Anyway, Chiao," Nita answered the Pig, "I was going to ask, 'what am I going to be assisting you with,' not, 'what is the meaning of life.' So, what _am_ I going to be assisting you with?"

"Oh. Sorry, it's sort of becoming a habit for me to be objecting to the 'meaning of Life' question, I'm just getting sick of it. I'm beginning to think it's a conspiracy among the seniors," Chiao said, flicking a penetrating glance at Tom, who flinched.

"It was the Powers who put 'the proper way to greet the Transcendent Pig' in the manuals, not us, Chiao. And please answer Nita's question," responded Tom.

"I'm going to. Nita, you will be helping me with the repairing of various… distortions in the continuum that shouldn't have ever come into existence in the first place. It's a complex job, but I'm being told that you would be right for it. Are you up to it?"

"Sure," answered Nita, "sounds fun."

"Tom," Kit started, "what am I going to be helping _you_ with?"

Tom grinned. "That," he said, "is for me to know, and for you to worry about aimlessly. Speaking of which," he added quickly, "we have to get going. Chiao, Nita, meet back here this evening, when all's done. Now Kit; stand here. Good. And off we go. See you!"

Kit waved at Nita, and grinned a goodbye, before both he and Tom vanished without making a sound.

"Smooth," commented the Transcendent Pig calmly, turning back to Nita. "We're on a time limit, so we need to go. Here," it said, handing her a wizardly containment unit, "put your name in here. That'll fix the transit detail. You'll be able to transit with me, without the bother of a spell.

Nita detached her name from her claudicational pocket of time-space, and flipped the "lid" of the container open, placing her name inside. After she had done that, she turned back to the Pig.

"So, where to first?" It smiled faintly at her.

"Here," it said, and as Nita watched, the scene around them changed though they appeared to stay unmoved. Nita saw a large open landscape, with a darkened area at the horizon that hinted at faraway mountains. The sky curved over them like a bowl, a brilliant blue, untainted by clouds.

"Beautiful," said Nita. "Where are we?"

Chiao smiled his slightly ridiculous smile of amusement. "The late Triassic period, I think. Or sometime around there."

"No way…"

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So that's the end of the first chapter! Please review. I have the next chapter written already, so if I get any reviews on this one, I should have the update within a week.


	2. Oh, Joy!

Thanks to the reviewers, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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**Chapter Two—**_**Oh, Joy!**_

"Well, Kit, this is it."

"You're joking…"

"No, I'm not."

"Oh, joy."

Kit Rodriguez frowned, and stared down at the piece of paper, which lay in front of him. Or, what appeared to be a piece of paper, which lay in front of him.

He distractedly tapped his pencil, or, what appeared to be a pencil, on the edge of Tom's kitchen table (or, what appeared to be a table, sitting in Tom's kitchen). Then he wrote a series of variables on the supposed sheet of paper, with the supposed pencil, and was unsurprised that the supposed lead in that pencil wrote in an odd metallic shade of blue, that shimmered, and seemed to bring the characters of the Speech to life.

Tom leaned over the supposed table to check Kit's work.  
He nodded. "Good, you've got the hang of it. I'll leave you to it, then. If you need anything, I'll be in the office."

"Okay, Tom."

Kit sighed, and returned to his job: a wizardly "fill in the blanks," of sorts. He was trying to fill in the missing variables in spells that had been written by Tom to attempt to fix Carl's DIY failures. Tom had a deadline to reach this week, with an article he was writing for a local magazine, and he needed Kit to finish the diagrams for him. Kit, as it was his duty, had to help.

He leaned closer to the supposed sheet of paper, filling in more numerals and symbols, and then letting his thoughts drift.

_I wonder what Neets is doing right now, _he mused.

His thoughts hadn't drifted far from Nita in the past weeks. He had really missed her, his heart aching when she hadn't been there to greet him every morning, as she nearly always had been before the vacation. He smiled to himself as he thought of this.

_It was great to finally see her again today…and even though she really didn't have to hug me, I'm glad that she did. It just felt perfect, like that._

Kit sat up straight, and frowned at himself. _I'm not going to let myself think it like that, _he commanded, _I only enjoyed it because I was glad to see her…yeah, that's it. _

He tried focusing his mind on the spells, but was unable to, as a fleeting memory of how he had felt when Nita hugged him filled his mind.

_Oh Powers, _Kit thought, and allowed his head to rest on the table, as he sank deeper into his chair. _Did it really feel like that?_

He knew that it had. It truly had felt right, to have his arms around her, and hers around him.

_No, _Kit objected weakly, knowing that it wouldn't help. _Not allowed to think that about my best friend…_

He shook his head, and forcibly put his attention back on the various diagrams on the supposed piece of paper. It was going to be a long day.

----------------------

Meanwhile, Nita was in a struggle of her own, that involved two very large scaled, "terrible lizards," otherwise known as dinosaurs. Except they had wings. Very large wings. And they breathed fire.

"This particular distortion," the Transcendent Pig explained, "happened between reality and subreality. The here and now got mixed up in a whole lot of junk with the thoughts from people in the future, and weird 'scientific' theories. And the result…"

"Dragons."

"Exactly."

"Oh, joy."

The Transcendent Pig chuckled, and flipped its ear up slightly, a gesture of humor.

"And to deal with them," it said, "we have to terminate the relationship between this reality, and the subreality."

"And how exactly do we do that?"

"Disassembling the pieces. But right now, we have to locate the Kernel of this particular time. I'm being told you are good at Kernel locating?"

"Some say so. Let me see if I can get my bearings on this one…"

Nita allowed her senses to drift off, her mind going blank, as she concentrated on nothing in particular.

Then, all of a sudden, she felt it. A quick heartbeat, faster than it was in what for her was the present time. _I guess in the Triassic period, the Kernel was younger, _Nita thought.

She turned around slowly; trying to sense from which direction the strongest feeling of that heartbeat came. She stopped suddenly, and opened her eyes. She was facing south. And to the south, was water.

She shook herself out of her searching mode, and turned back to Chiao. "South," she said simply. "Somewhere in all of that water. A little near the bottom, but not quite deep enough for the sunlight to not reach it."

"Very good," commented the Pig, walking to the south, and Nita following. He walked right up to the shore, and stepped into the water, which appeared to be frigid.

"Are you coming, Nita Callahan?" it asked.

Nita nodded, and then fearlessly stepped into the water after it, unsurprised that it didn't soak through her clothes, or get her wet at all. In fact, even as the water covered her head, she could still breathe.

"Are you alright?" Chiao asked from in front of her.

"Fine," she answered, and was startled to find that she could speak, and it sounded normal.

The world around them was a shining blue, and felt like water, but to Nita, it seemed more like air.

"Yes," the Transcendent Pig said, "it thinks that it is air, not dihydrogen monoxide. It's just a side effect of the transcendency, the worlds make themselves better fit for the transcendent."

"Wait," Nita said, catching on, "you can hear my thoughts?"

"Yours," it answered, "as well as many other wizards' thoughts." It is becoming useful, during various missions."

"Interesting concept…"

"I'm thinking so."

Nita grinned. "You always use the present tense, don't you. Kit was getting confused by it, he finds it hard to comprehend."

"I am using the present tense like so, because I am finding it useful to describe the world as a place with many times—all things running at once, like a well-tuned machine. All gears turning, working in a rhythm."

The Transcendent Pig turned his head slightly to the side, surveying the surrounding water, then continued.

"But there are problems. Every once in a while, a gear slips, or collision with something causes a screw to tighten a little too much. That's what we're fixing today. Now, come Nita, where do you sense the Kernel?"

Nita stepped further into the water, having to balance herself against the currents—even though the water thought it was air, that fact didn't stop the tides. It also didn't stop it from clouding up every time Nita took a step, and the sand scattered. She had to tread carefully, lest those sand clouds block her vision.

She walked silently, the Pig following her, knowing not to speak. Nita held her hands out, palms down, and closed her eyes. Then she quickly opened them, and began to run, not caring if the sand got in her eyes.

"It's moving," Nita explained to Chiao, who was running behind her.

They ran on for an entire minute, and if Nita hadn't been concentrating as hard as she was, she would have noticed that she wasn't getting tired.

Nita stopped suddenly, and took a deep breath of the water-turned-air. She bent down on her knees, and was soon up to her elbows in sand.

The Transcendent Pig looked at her with curiosity as she winced, and then pulled out a small crab. It would have passed for any normal ocean crab, except for the fact that it was the color of pure silver.

Nita grinned and held it up for the Pig to see. "It tried to bury itself when it sensed us coming," she explained. "It always makes it more interesting when the Kernel is a living thing."

Nita ran her hands along the crab's shell, and it transformed into the Kernel that it was. Nita squeezed it in her hands, and strong multicolored light seeped out between her fingers.

"Let's take it back to the surface," the Pig said.

It led the way back, pausing briefly before letting its head go above the water. Nita followed it, and coughed as she breathed in the real air, because of the horrible stench that filled it.

"Oh no," Nita said, and ran the rest of the way out of the water. Smoke surrounded them, stinging Nita's eyes, and she ducked low to the ground, trying to avoid it. _The dragons, _she thought, mentally moaning.

She saw that the area, for about fifty feet around, was singed black, and had smoke coming off of it.

"Ah, the causes of prehistoric brush-fires," joked the Transcendent Pig.

"Just take a look at the area through the Kernel, you should be able to see the link between realities."

Nita spoke to the Kernel, telling it to appear like a sheet of glass. She held up the "glass" sheet, and looked through it. She turned around, and her eyes fell upon an area that was slightly discolored.

"_What is that?" _Nita asked the Kernel in the Speech. In answer, it zoomed in on the area, showing her a small circle with darkness on the other side of it.

_That would be it_, Chiao commented mentally.

Nita's first instinct was to say, "Get out of my head," but since that was probably impossible as well as illogical, she held that reply back.

She touched her hand to the glass, and it rippled like water where it and her fingers came in contact. She slowly moved her hand to the link, which was shown on the glass. She pinched it closed, and twisted it, sealing it with the Wizard's Knot.

The world seemed to shimmer, and when it stopped, both the smoke and the dragons disappeared, or actually, seemed to have never been there in the first place.

"Good," said the Transcendent Pig, "that one's finished. On to the next distortion."

"So that's it?"

"That's it."

"That's seeming almost…_easy_."

"Not all of them are this simple, we're starting with the easiest one.

"How many are there?"

"Let's just say that at this point and time, there are many, even multidimensional ones. When the going gets weird, the weird get going…and so we must be off."

"You consider yourself, 'weird?' Chiao?"

"Very."

The scene suddenly changed from the large field to a more medieval setting, with green grass and tall trees, and a large stone castle, which they were standing near; it was about thirty feet away. The Transcendent Pig chuckled at Nita's startled expression.

"That's how I travel, so you'd best be getting used to it. Ah, and here is someone to assist us with getting to know this era."

A young man in medieval seeming royal attire walked over, almost seemingly in confusion. Then an expression of recognition dawned on his face.

"Oh great Pig," he exclaimed, bowing deeply in respect, "what is the ultimate meaning of all?"

_Forty-two, _said the Pig mentally, _and that's all that you need to know…_ Nita bit the inside of her lip to keep from laughing, as the Pig made its customary response.

"I'll tell you the meaning of my life, if you tell me the meaning of yours. Now, we have business to attend to here. Marcus, this is Nita, another wizard. Nita, this is Marcus, a wizard from this time."

"I was going to mention that," Nita cut in, "what _is_ this time?"

"A long time ago. You had already guessed it; we are in England, around the time of the Sword in the Stone. We're in medieval times, you know, King Arthur and all the rest. I assume you've heard the stories?"

"Some of them. I've mainly read the story of the Sword in the Stone and the Lady of the Lake, Excalibur and all of that. That's about it."

"Well," said Marcus, "we'll fix that. We'll have a feast up at the castle, and tell you the whole history."

Nita looked inquisitively at the Pig, who shrugged. "Lunch break," it said, and began to follow Marcus.

Beginning to be slightly annoyed with the fact that they weren't going to get right to work, Nita followed.

_I wonder what Kit's doing, _she wondered silently.

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There was a knock on Tom's office door.

"Come in!" Tom said, looking up from his laptop, as the door opened.

"Uh…Tom? I finished them," Kit said.

"All of them?" Tom asked, astounded.

"Er…yeah. All of them."

"Let me take a look."

Kit handed Tom the supposed sheet of paper, with the character's on it that had been written with the supposed pencil, and Tom read over it.

"Nice," he said, "I can't believe you finished them that quickly! Well then, on to the next task."

Kit groaned mentally, before asking, "What _is_ the next task?"

Tom handed the supposed paper back to Kit. "Now you have to _use_ these. It shouldn't take that much energy to finish all of them. They're basically simple spells, they only are supposed to ensure that Carl doesn't cause another NYC blackout. Or," Tom said, rethinking, "flood the house again."

Kit winced, picturing those situations. "I'll do them. Do you want to know how they turn out?"

"Please. Report back here when you've finished the first one."

"Okay, Tom."

"Okay then, Kit. See you in a bit."

Kit left the room, and walked into the kitchen, which would be the best logical place to perform the first spell, which dealt with the sink and other kitchen plumbing.

Kit gently plucked the spell off of the paper, the glittering blue words falling into place on the kitchen floor, the diagram spreading out, and rippling.

Leaning back against the wooden cabinets, Kit started reading the spell, slowly at first, then speeding up the rhythm as the power intensified.

He spent a few moments in fierce recitation, various colors and variables appearing in his mind. He held himself straight as great power went through him, then relaxed, letting out a deep breath as the spell ended, and the colors faded away.

_It felt like it worked, but it was nothing compared to the spells I've done with Nita, _Kit thought.

He remembered how Nita's voice sounded, reciting completely in harmony with his voice, sounding perfectly in tune as they spoke in the Speech. He enjoyed listening to her voice as much as he enjoyed doing the spell itself, if not more.

_And speaking—er, thinking—of which, I wonder what Nita's doing right now._

"Hey Kit, I see you finished," Tom said, walking into the kitchen and placing his closed laptop on the table.

"Uh, yeah, I finished it. Just let me clean this up," Kit replied, pulling the spell diagram off of the floor, after untying the Wizard's Knot.

"Good," said Tom, sitting down at the table and sighing. "Now I can order us a pizza."

"Tom?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay? You look tired."

"That's nothing compared to how I feel. Here, sit down and grab yourself a coke out of the fridge. In fact, grab one for me too, while you're at it. I'll dial in the pizza."

Kit nodded, and went to the refrigerator to get the cokes, listening to Tom order a large, pepperoni pizza with extra cheese; just how they both liked it.

Kit sat back down at the table, and looked worriedly over an exhausted Tom Swale.

"Did you finish the article?" Kit asked. Tom merely nodded.

"In that case, you need to sleep," Kit continued. Tom nodded again.

Kit sighed, and handed Tom his coke. Tom took it gratefully, hoping that the caffeine would help him wake up, and he took a few gulps of it.

"I'll be fine," Tom said, "I have a lot of paperwork to do still. But I will sleep for a little while after we eat, while you finish the rest of the spells. Oh, and you can take a break after that. You know, rest up, maybe contact Nita if you want to."

Kit thought this over, and found that he would like to talk to Nita if possible. "Thanks, Tom," he said.

The doorbell rang, breaking the silence that had settled over the two wizards.

"Ah," said Tom, "Pizza's here."

He stood up to get it, walking over towards the door, money in hand. He paid the delivery guy, and came back to the table with a box that was steaming.

"He kept it warm nicely," Tom commented, as he sat down again, and he and Kit began to eat.

The pizza tasted delicious, the cheese melted, the pepperoni still sizzling, giving the pizza a slight spiciness, creating a combination of flavors that nearly matched perfection.

They finished their lunch and cokes, and then continued with their day. Kit went next to the basement, to secure the spell on the wiring, and Tom went to go take a well-needed nap.

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Nita, Chiao, and Marcus had by now finished their "feast" and were lounging in the garden, speaking of the distortion that they would have to fix.

"So let me make sure I've got this right," Nita said, "we have to make sure that this world isn't eaten by fire. And to do that, we have to locate the Kernel, and reinforce the Earth's magnetic field. Right?"

"Basically…" said the Pig.

"Oh, joy…"

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So what did you think of this chapter? Please review! Next chapter will be up as soon as I can get my laptop to work.


	3. Really

I finally got my laptop to work, so here's the next chapter!

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**Chapter Three—**_**Really.**_

"That's good, Kit, you can rest now."

It was three hours later, and Tom had just woken up, and was returning to his mountainous piles of paperwork.

Kit had finished all of his assigned spells, and decided to sit in the backyard when he called Nita. The air outside was cool, and slightly humid, but not enough to bother him. The grass was green, the flowers were bright, and even Tom and Carl's crazy koi seemed to be enjoying the weather.

Kit sat down on a green plastic bench, and looked through the leaves of the trees above and around him. He leaned back, and cleared his mind of all other thoughts, before sending a single sentence over to Nita.

_Hey Neets, are you there?_

There was a pause, and Kit sighed, ready to wait as long as he had to.

_Yeah, Kit, I'm here. You sound tired, are you okay?_

_Oh, Nita, I'm glad you're there. And yeah, I am tired. Fixing Carl's DIY…you don't want to _know_ how much of a mess the wiring in this place was._

Nita chuckled in response, and Kit could feel her smiling, and could not keep himself from grinning as well.

_So what are you and Chiao up to,_ Kit inquired. Nita sighed.

_Fixing distortions in space/time. In other words, dealing with dragons, selkies, and other supposedly mythical creatures that got mixed up in the wrong location and era. Oh, and I've had to reinforce the Earth's magnetic field a couple of times. That's the hard part…_

Kit grimaced, feeling bad for her troubles. _When are you going to be done?_ he asked.

_Actually, Chiao said I could go after the next one's fixed. Give me about twenty minutes, and I'll meet you at the beach._

_Okay, let me check with Tom…_

"Hey Tom?" Kit called.

"Yeah?" a slightly muffled response came from somewhere in the house.

"Do you have anything else you want me to do? Neets wants to meet at the beach in twenty minutes."

There was a pause, before Tom replied, "uh, just this one more spell. You should be able to get it done in less than twenty minutes, though. I laid it out on the kitchen table for you."

"Okay."

_Sure Neets, I'll see you there, _Kit said to Nita.

_Okay, see you in a bit, _Nita said, before the connection broke off.

Kit stood up, and went back into the house. A spell awaited him, as he expected, the light blue of its color sparkling in the afternoon light.

He read through the spell silently, and then began reading it aloud.

The effect of this spell was much stronger than that of the previous spells. Tom had been right, it had taken less than twenty minutes, but it was a lot more tiring. The power faded, and Kit leaned against the wall, a fierce headache forming behind his eyes.

He blinked several times, and the headache faded away.

Kit cleared his throat before yelling, "I finished it, Tom."

Tom came into the kitchen, and watched Kit disassemble the spell.

"I want to talk to you," Tom said, sitting down at the table and helping Kit take apart the words, and store them.

"Now, I don't mean to be teasing, or rude, or anything, be sure of that," Tom said.

Kit looked at him in slight curiosity, wondering what all of this was about.

"I don't want to pry or anything, but I want to make sure you know what to do…what not to do…in this situation…" Tom broke off, at a loss of where to go with the conversation.

"Just get on with it, I think I'll understand whatever you're trying to get across."

"Good. Do you mind if I get straight to the point about this with you?"

"Uh, please do."

"It's about Nita," Tom stated simply.

"Uh, okay…"

"You love her."

Kit was taken aback, no, he was _shocked._ He tried to say something, but was unsuccessful the first few times he tried.

"Well, yeah." he finally managed to say, "Of course I do! Nita's my best friend!"

Tom gave Kit a look that was pretty close to a glare.

"Christopher," Tom said, making Kit wince at the usage of his full first name, "you _know_ what I mean. You _love_ her. Don't pretend that you don't, I've been paying attention to you lately."

Kit sighed, and sat down in a chair across from Tom, leaning his head on the table, then looking up at Tom again.

"Fine," he said, "I do _love_ her. We've determined that. What do you want with it?"

"Well," began Tom, "for starters, when are you going to tell her?"

"I'm not going to. Isn't that easy enough to see? I _can't _tell her. I know that it would _kill_ our friendship if she didn't feel the same, I mean," he continued, "even if she were just to have a crush on me, this isn't the same! They're totally different degrees of affection! It wouldn't work out. And she probably doesn't like me like that anyway, so what would be the point?"

Tom was slightly startled by Kit's sudden outburst.

"You really care about her so much that you're willing to just be her friend?"

Kit groaned quietly, before replying, "Sounds like it, doesn't it?"

Tom just kept silent, patting Kit on the shoulder. "Never mind," he said, "just never mind what I was going to say about all of this. It'll turn out all right, I know it will, eventually. Go on, then, you only have a few minutes until you said you'd meet Nita at the beach."

"Okay Tom. And, thanks," Kit said, getting up, "I think it helped to tell someone all of this. He smiled slightly, and walked to a place in the backyard where he could transit to the beach.

Tom sighed, watching him go.

----------------------

Nita stood up on the grassy surface where she stood, and walked over to the Pig, asking, "so are we done here?"

The Transcendent Pig nodded. "I think so," it said, "so you can go. But before you leave, I want to comment on something."

"Oh, like what?"

"Like your wizard partner, Christopher."

"It's Kit, Chiao. He hates it when people call him Christopher."

"He doesn't seem to really mind when _you_ call him that."

"Well, yeah, but…look, where are you going with this?"

Chiao smiled, grinning a very piggish grin, though also (as always), one of amusement.

"You love him."

Nita was only slightly shocked. She simply sank down to the ground again, and sat there.

"Is it really that obvious?" she asked worriedly and quietly.

"No," the Pig reassured her, "only to me. I _can_ read your thoughts, even more than Kit can, currently, though that will probably change."

"Oh."

"And you will have to tell him that you love him."

"_What?_"

"I repeat, you will tell Christopher that you love him."

"I'm sorry, Chiao, but I don't think that I can do that!"

"But you will…"

Nita snorted. "Yeah," she said, "when pigs fly!"

The Transcendent Pig looked amused. Its nose twitched, and it began to slowly rise a few inches off the ground. Nita looked at it more closely, and was shocked to see a minute pair of tiny pink wings on Chiao's back.

"Well," the pig said, as it began to fly in a circle around her, "have a problem with pigs flying?"

Realizing what it meant, she shook her head furiously. "No, I just don't feel as if I could tell him!"

"You promised you would, when a pig would fly," answered the Pig. "I did. You saw. Ergo you must go through with it."

Nita sighed, knowing that the Pig was right. To break a promise, even one made unintentionally, it would be more dangerous to break it, than to fulfill the promise in the first place.

She sighed, and nodded. _Might as well, _Nita thought, _I used to want to anyway…_

"Anyway," said Chiao, "it's time for you to meet Christopher—"

"Kit," Nita interrupted.

"—It's time for you to meet _Kit_," the Pig corrected, "at the beach. So you'd better go. You don't have to tell him immediately, or even today. You just have to tell him."

"Alright, Chiao, Alright. I'll see you later," Nita said. "Go well."

"Go well, wizard, go well. But first, here," it said, handing her the written out version of her name.

"Thanks. See you."

Nita disappeared with a clap of distorted air, and appeared at the beach.

"Neets!"

Nita turned around promptly, and found herself face-to-face with Kit, who was smiling brightly at her.

"Kit!" she exclaimed, and impulsively hugged him for the second time today. She could positively _feel_ Kit's happiness as he hugged her back, and she tightened her arms around him, hugging him as tight as she could, and Kit held her just as tightly, enjoying this just as much as Nita did.

When they finally broke the embrace, Kit smiled at Nita gratefully.

"Thank you so much," he said, great emotion in his voice, "I really needed that."

"I kind of knew that; I overheard that thought of yours earlier. And believe me, I needed that just as much as you did…"

_I wonder what else she heard, _Kit thought.

"Some things," Nita answered aloud, "but not much."

Kit looked at her, startled by the fact that she could read his thoughts even now.

"I can't read them that often, Kit, only occasionally; though yes, I did hear that last thought."

"Oh. Well, I mean, it doesn't exactly bother me," Kit said thoughtfully, "it just seems abnormal, after all that's gone on. We haven't had frequent or even _infrequent_ accidental mind talk in a long time. I just wonder why it's happening now."

"Yeah, I wonder. Come on, Kit, let's go to my house, there's…something I need to tell you."

Kit watched in worry as Nita's expression briefly changed to an expression of slight discomfort as she considered what she had to tell him. He comfortingly put a hand on her shoulder, as Nita set up the transit, and they appeared in her lovingly landscaped yard.

"Here," Nita said, leading Kit over to a green plastic bench in the corner of the yard, a bench which was nearly identical to the one in Tom and Carl's backyard.

They sat down, and rotated slightly to face each other.

"Before you say anything, Neets," Kit started, "I just wanted to say that I have something to tell you, too, but…I just don't think I'm able to say it." Kit had no idea why he'd said that, he just felt like it needed to be said.

"Yeah, well, I don't feel like telling you this either, but I accidentally promised to, so I'd better," Nita said, and then closed her eyes to think about what to say.

Kit watched this in silence, concerned, mainly because he could hear Nita's mental desperation to make whatever she was going to say, sound right. He could tell that she was having little success.

Suddenly, Nita angrily flicked her eyes open, said, "Oh the _heck_ with words!" She stood up, and Kit stood up beside her, only partially surprised when Nita hugged him again. He gently put his arms around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder, neither of them caring one bit if the other one noticed how they felt.

They stayed like this until Nita, shocking both Kit and herself, gently kissed Kit's neck.

Abruptly, they pulled apart, though not fully, holding only each other's arms, at the elbows.

_Ohmigosh, Kit, I didn't intend to do that! _Nita thought frantically, sending the thought over to Kit.

_Yeah, I didn't think so, _Kit thought back, calmly looking down at her, Nita realizing for the first time that Kit was several inches taller than she was, and that she was looking _up_ at him.

They simply stood there looking at each other, no other thoughts being shared.

Nita studied Kit hard, from his messy dark hair, to his deep, clear, crystal-brown eyes, and had to shelter her thoughts from her partner as she did so, knowing that if he heard them, the moment would be a whole lot more tense than it was already.

_Wow, _Nita thought, _we sure have come far in three years. It seems like it passed so quickly, and yet, here we are, barely recognizable compared to who we were. Kit's changed the most though…I doubt anyone would _dare_ fight him now, though I know he wouldn't want to fight if they did, and not because of fear, either. He's just become so gentle, and—_she smiled mentally, not daring let Kit see her doing so—_so cute, even. Wow, I never thought I'd actually think that, but he is…cute. _

Nita began to cut off those thoughts, as she seemingly always had, but this time she stopped herself, thinking, _no, maybe it's time I actually came to terms with this. Maybe Chiao is right, and I will have to tell him how I feel…_

Kit was likewise studying her, remembering her sweet smile that had lingering traces even now, as he examined Nita's storm-grey eyes with his own brown ones, attempting to hide the emotion in his own.

_I wish I could describe her, _Kit pondered, _but nothing really _can_ describe her. I've tried telling my other friends—well, acquaintances, no one has ever really been a lasting friend to me except Nita—about her, though I can never get the words to come out right. Or come out at all…but I mean we're just friends, there's no real reason to be disturbed by that—well, if we _are_ just friends anymore…what am I thinking! Never mind, I know what I'm thinking, and I think I always have known. Powers Above, what did I do to deserve her… _

Kit felt Nita lightly squeezing his arms, as he and Nita instinctively moved closer slowly, their lips meeting. They saw the mental explosion it produced, both of their minds opening and letting loose all hidden, unwanted, or forgotten thoughts that they held, exposing all mental chaos and confusion that there had been between them, and in some forms, still was.

They both suddenly pulled back shocked, not by the explosion, but by the fact that they actually _kissed_, and moreover, had actually _wanted_ to.

_Ohmigosh, _they both thought at the same time, and locked gazes once more, still holding onto each other's arms.

Nita smiled at Kit, enjoying them having heard each other's thoughts again, and was unsurprised when Kit smiled back.

_What the heck, why not, _Nita thought, sure that at least half of that thought would reach Kit, and knowing that he would understand, no matter which half of the message he heard.

By the way Kit's smile softened to an expression of gentleness that made Nita's heart nearly melt, Nita knew that he had understood.

Their arms slid about each other as they leaned together and kissed again, a storm of power enveloping them, as they began to see inside each other's minds.

Nita looked around her (in the mental world) and felt as if she was standing in front of a wall, guarding it from intruders. In front of her, a few yards off, she saw Kit standing, he too guarding a wall, a wall of thoughts and emotions that was twisted and randomly patterned with swirls of burnt orange, deep burgundy, and pale metallic gold.

Kit grinned over at her, and she smiled back. Nita came forward, and her wall moved with her, following right behind her, as she pressed her hands to the surface of Kit's mind-wall, and Kit who was now standing beside her (only faced the opposite direction) pressed his hands against her mind-wall.

The walls slowly gave, and allowed the wizards to exchange thoughts, as their minds meshed, and Nita and Kit explored each other's mental worlds.

In the physical world, Kit tightened his arms around Nita, deepening the kiss and feeling Nita shiver slightly as he did so.

Back in the mental world, Nita broke through the mind wall, brilliant sunshine meeting her, along with clear air and the sweet smell of earth after a rainshower mixed with a slight taste of motor oil and silicon. A breeze blew gently over the stony mountains where she stood.

"_Wow,"_ Nita said, and her voice echoed through Kit's mind. Nita could fully take in the pure feel of this world, seeing the green trees far off, and the even larger snow-capped mountains behind them, the sky a deep shade of periwinkle. She sat down on the mountaintop, feeling almost completely at home in this stunningly alive scenery.

Kit was exploring Nita's mind as well. He had gently pushed through Nita's mind-wall, which was various shades of deep violets separated occasionally by strands of light blue, a color very close to white, that was the same color as that of moonlight.

As he came to the other side of the wall, he realized that he was standing on the surface of the moon, which was reflecting light up at him, the moondust appearing to be made of many small words. There was a whisper of poetry in the background; words beautifully made to sound as if they existed simply to be in that poem, creating an inner meaning to everything. It was just utterly…_her_. Her poetry, her way of twisting words to do whatever she willed them. It was purely her style.

Kit stopped examining the surface, and instead turned his eyes to the sky, which was filled with millions of stars, all of them shining down (and appearing to smile) at him. _"It's beautiful, Neets,"_ he whispered, knowing that Nita was able to hear him.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, the kiss broke, and the worlds faded, bringing them back to the physical world, back to Nita's backyard.

They pulled away from each other slowly, then embraced again, Nita resting her head against Kit's chest.

"_I love you,"_ Nita whispered in the Speech, and hugged Kit tighter.

"Really?" asked Kit letting go of her so that he could look her in the eyes again.

Nita smiled at him, and lay her hands on Kit's shoulders before replying.

"Really."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a warning: it could be a while before I update it again; I have a lot going on, and almost no time to work on the fourth chapter, though I'll get it up as soon as I possibly am able to.

Please review and tell me what you thought about this chapter!


	4. I Need Your Help

**Chapter Four—**_**I Need Your Help**_

"Hey, Kit?"

"Mmm?"

"We've got to get back to Earth soon, or my dad's gonna kill me for staying out late again. It'll be even worse, because I wasn't out late doing wizardry."

Kit sighed, and rolled his eyes towards the sky, taking in the sight of thousands of stars.

"Don't sweat it. You're out here _recuperating _from an _excess_ of wizardries. It counts, I think."

It was over an hour later, and the young wizards lay down in the pale dust of the moon, talking and stargazing while resting after the long day's work. They were holding hands, and were close together, shoulders and arms touching.

Nita turned her head from the stars to look at Kit.

"Do you even know what time it is?" she asked him.

"Do I want to?" he countered.

Nita grinned, and checked her watch, letting go of Kit's hand to do so. Then she held her wrist in front of him, so he could see it clearly.

"Oh, well, that's not _too_ late. I did probably miss dinner, though. My mom's going to kill me," he said, without any worry, turning back to face Nita, and smiling at her look of miscomprehension.

"Only joking," he said, "yes, we need to get back. But please," he said, suddenly acquiring a look of pleading that Nita instantly deemed 'cute,' "can't we just stay a few more minutes? You know we haven't seen that much of each other lately, and you know the view up here is great, and-"

Kit broke off as Nita pressed her lips firmly against his, wrapping her arms around him, and her mind slipping into Kit's once more. Kit reacted gently, putting his arms around her, and pulling her closer to him, as he was enveloped in the mental paradox of being both physically and mentally on the moon. It temporarily confused him, before he gave up, and instead worked on attempting to understand some of the poetry that was whispered in the air and written in the sky in Nita's mental world.

_Don't you dare try to read that, _Nita commented mentally, _that's personal. And some of it's even about you, so please, don't try to read it. It gets complicated…_

A fresh river of emotion suddenly burst through them, and Kit's mental vision suddenly blurred as his pulse and breathing sped up slightly, reminding him of his physical closeness to Nita at the moment.

They pulled apart as the kiss broke, and Nita smiled into Kit's warm eyes, seeing deep into them. "Happy now?" she inquired, referring to Kit's earlier plea about staying longer.

Kit smiled at her, and pulled her into his arms again, letting her rest her head against his chest. "Yes," he answered. "We can leave now."

Nita pulled back slightly so she could look into Kit's face.

"Kit," she asked suddenly, "do you think Tom knows we're 'together' now? I mean, did you tell him you were going to tell me, or anything like that?"

"No," Kit answered, "I didn't. In fact, I told him that I _wasn't _going to tell you, and with good reason, too. Why?"

"I don't know…I was just thinking that maybe we should keep this a secret. My dad would freak out if he knew, Tom and Carl would probably just smile as if they had known all along, and Dairine would be some combination of both, plus teasing us about it."

"That sounds like it could be a good idea…but how long could we pull it off?"

"I don't know. But tomorrow, can we please just try to act 'normal' around other people, your parents included?"

Kit smiled at her, and nodded. "Sure. C'mon, let's transit home."

They got up, and held hands, quickly and harmoniously reciting the last word of the spell, appearing with a small snap of displaced air. They were standing at what for them was the intersection, one side of the street leading to Nita's house, the other leading to Kit's.

Kit looked around to see if anyone was around, and seeing no one, hugged Nita quickly, holding her to him for just a second, before letting go.

"See you tomorrow?" Kit asked, smiling at her.

"Of course. See you then."

They smiled at each other once more, before turning, and starting to walk home.

Nita stopped to turn around and look at Kit. _Hey, Kit? _Nita asked.

_Yeah?_

_I love you…_

Kit turned around as well, and smiled back at her.

_I love you too Neets. Goodnight._

_Goodnight._

They both turned around again, and continued the walk home.

Nita stopped at her front door then went around the house to the back, pausing before opening the screen door.

"Juanita Callahan, where have you been!" her dad shouted at her as she walked into the living room.

"I was recuperating," she said, remembering Kit's words, "from assisting the Transcendent Pig with various reinforcements of the Earth's magnetic field, and fixing other things that would have hurt pretty badly if they hadn't been stopped from burning up the planet."

"That's no excuse!" her father continued, and then paused rethinking.

"How badly would it have burned up the planet?" he asked.

Nita sighed, and said, "think about the world having been burnt like that in the late Triassic period, and it seems pretty bad. I time traveled, dad, please can I get some sleep? I might have to do it again tomorrow, it depends…"

"All right," sighed Mr. Callahan, "you might as well. But please try to be back earlier next time?"

"I'll try, dad. Goodnight. Hey, has Dair come back yet?"

Her father shook his head. "No. I don't expect her to, either, for a while, at least. She's still probably at the Crossings, I take it, searching through galactic records for something or other."

"I see. She'll be fine, dad, if Spot's with her."

Nita left the room, climbed the stairs, and opened the door to her room, falling back on the bed in complete exhaustion. Another day of wizardry had worn her out.

----------------------

Nita forced herself out of bed the next morning at seven, knowing that she might be needed again. And sure enough, at eight, Chiao's voice came into her head, telling her to meet him/her/it/whatever at the beach at nine, an easily accomplishable time for her. She replied that she would be there.

_Kit?_ Nita asked mentally, _are you going to be helping Tom again today?_

_Yeah, _was the reply, _he called my house about five minutes ago. I'm meeting him at nine, at the beach._

_That's funny, I'm meeting Chiao at the same place and time. Could you come here at around eight forty-five?_

Nita could feel Kit smile to himself. _Sure._

Nita continued getting ready for the day, brushing her hair and teeth, and choosing a suitable outfit (yet another pair of jeans, and a comfortable T-shirt).

At around eight thirty, she heard a noise in the kitchen, and walked downstairs, extremely surprised to find her father talking to _Dairine_.

"Hey squirt, so when did you get back?" asked Nita, sitting down in a chair at the table, muttering her commonly used spell to get her bowl, spoon, milk, and cereal of choice to appear at her spot on the table.

Dairine brushed her reddish hair back from her face, making Nita realize that Dairine's hair had grown several inches, and was now much longer than shoulder-length. "I got back sometime around midnight last night," Dairine answered. "My mission was successful."

Nita smiled warmly at her sister, noticing the sadness flickering behind her sister's eyes, and wanting to cheer her. "Congratulations," she said. She recognized the sadness in her sister as being the thing that had seemed to haunt her ever since Roshaun had disappeared. Nita fully understood; she would feel the same if Kit disappeared.

Nita began eating her cereal, deep in thought, as she heard Kit come in through the sliding door.

"Hey Neets, Mr. Callahan, Dairine," Kit said, sitting down in the chair next to Nita, fighting down the instinctive urge to put his arm around her. He looked around at the situation, rethinking things.

_Wait, _he thought over to Nita, _Dairine's here?_

_She came in at about midnight, or so she says. She claims the mission was successful, but the sadness in her eyes speaks otherwise. Kit, she didn't find Roshaun…_

Kit looked at Dairine sympathetically, then returned his gaze to Nita, who was just finishing her second bowl of cereal.

_Cute outfit, _Kit commented mentally to Nita, meaning what he said, but making it sound humorous because of his phrasing and tone.

Nita looked up, fake-glaring at him, and trying to keep from laughing. Simply unable to contain herself, she nudged him hard in the side, grinning to herself.

Dairine, from across the table, raised an eyebrow. _And what exactly, _she said mentally to her sister, _was _that_ about? _

Nita simply shook her head, implying that Dairine wouldn't understand.

She finished her last spoonful, and put her dishes in the sink, motioning to Kit to follow her outside.

As they walked around the side of the house to the front sidewalk, Kit examined Nita closely. There seemed to be a general note of sadness hiding behind her normal cheerfulness and optimism, and it made Kit wonder what could be bothering her.

They were in the side yard when Kit stopped Nita by the arm.

"Neets," he said gently, "what is it? Something's hurting you, I can tell. Please tell me what it is, it's worrying me to see you like this."

Nita sighed and turned to him, once more matching her gaze with his.

"It's nothing, really, Kit, I was just thinking about Dairine and Roshaun, and…" She looked away suddenly, seeming almost embarrassed. She sighed again.

"…I realized that I wouldn't survive if you were lost, like Roshaun is. Well, I might _live_, but there wouldn't be much left of me mentally. Look, what I'm trying to say is, I don't think I would be able to exist without you."

Kit saw her blush, and smiled sadly down at her as their eyes met again.

"Nita, I wouldn't leave you, you know that!" Kit said, pulling her into an embrace.

"You wouldn't willingly, I do know that, but Kit," Nita said, tightening her arms around Kit's back as if she was afraid he would disappear, "what if something happened, something that we couldn't stop, and we were separated?"

"You would find me," said Kit calmly, "or I would find you. It would all work out, no matter what happened.

"But what if-"

"Nita," Kit interrupted, pulling her back slightly so that he was looking directly into her eyes, "no matter what happens to us, it will happen to us _together_. If we're separated, which I doubt we will be, know that I'll always be with you, whenever you need me. _I promise._" The last sentence was in the Speech, reassuring Nita that Kit was speaking the truth.

"_Kit," _Nita said in the Speech, with great emotion, _"I love you." _She kissed him quickly on the lips, then pulled back.

"Come on," she said, "we're late: we'd better get to the beach."

--------------------------------

Dairine finished breakfast quickly, noting mentally that she must ask Nita later exactly what Kit had said. Or what she had said to him…

Dairine hated the fact that she now had no one to talk to mentally, as Roshaun was…

_He's not dead, _Dairine cut in sharply, _I've checked Timeheart, and he wasn't there. He's just missing in action…sort of._

Her mission actually had been successful, but that was only because her original mission had been to help out the wizards on a planet where she thought Roshaun might be. But although she had solved the aliens' problem, Roshaun was nowhere to be found.

She squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears that wanted to escape, but they came anyway despite her best effort. She saw the concerned look her father gave her, but she ignored it. She didn't need his sympathy, and she didn't need his help. She just needed to find Roshaun, and then she'd be okay…

She put her dishes in the sink, and walked into her room. Spot was sitting at her desk in his usual fashion, sleeping, and snoring with a quiet drive-whirring noise.

Dairine lay down on her bed, ready for a day of pure brainstorming. Her hand fell to the emerald at her neck, and she suddenly thought of something. Her eyes widened as she gently took off the necklace, and squinted at the text in the Speech that it was made of. Looking at it, she realized that she might need help from someone else after all…though she would do anything she could to avoid that…

-------------------------

Kit reached out his hand, and smiled at his partner in wizardry. Nita grasped it, and they once again recited the final word that transported them to the exact spot on the beach where they had been yesterday.

They looked for Chiao and Tom, but were instead met by someone who they hadn't expected.

"Dai Stiho," said Carl, nodding at them as they walked closer.

"Carl?" asked Nita, confused, "I thought you were on assignment. What are you doing here?"

"I _was_ on assignment. Tom and I traded off, after he got enough rest from all the paperwork he had to do yesterday. A sort of switch of jobs for a day or so."

"Oh. Well, where's Chiao?"

"It'll be meeting us where we're going. We're all going to be working together, today."

_Hmm,_ Kit thought, _that'll make it harder for us to act like we're not 'together' as you put it._

_You got that right. We'll have to try hard, though, _Nita replied.

_Will we be able to do it?_

_I don't know, Kit, I don't know. We should just try to be as normal as we were when we were just best friends: close, and yet not that close._

_You mean, the way we were yesterday? _Kit asked with a mental chuckle.

_Exactly. Only I don't know if yesterday is such a good example…maybe, try to act how we were before you went on vacation?_

_Sure, if you think it'll work…_

"Guys," Carl broke in, "you were spacing out, both of you."

Nita blushed, and thought, _well, that's got to stop. _

_No more appearing to space out while we're talking. Got it, _replied Kit, nodding at whatever Carl was saying now.

"...The distortions could possibly be because of a larger cause, a problem in space/time in general, and the fixing that Nita and Chiao have been doing are just a short term solution, not a long-term cure."

"So we're going to do many large spells that are sort of tests. If they work, then the problem will be partially solved, and if they don't, we know that this particular answer that we think will work, won't The spells are already written, but they need more energy, which is why we're all going to be doing them. Any questions?"

Nita promptly asked the first question that came to mind. "Where are we going to be doing the spells?"

At this, Carl's serious expression metamorphosed into a slight smile. "The Playroom," he said, "Chiao's idea. Then we can change the Kernel's properties to whatever is ideal for the spelling. We couldn't exactly do that with Earth's…I doubt the rest of the world would understand."

"Mmmh," Kit agreed, seeming to be picturing what the situation would be if they messed with Earth's Kernel to suit their needs. Nita, able to see into his mind, shuddered slightly. Carl chuckled.

"Well, let's go, then. Everyone into the diagram," Carl said, motioning towards the pattern of shimmering blue light that Nita and Kit had just realized was drawn on the sand.

They carefully stepped into the designated areas, and connected themselves into the spell. Carl released it, and they were transported across many universes, to end up in the large area where Nita hadn't been since she had worked on rescuing her mother.

Nita looked around, sad memories flickering through her mind as she looked over the familiar space.

_I would comfort you, _Kit said kindly, _but if I were to put my arm around you or something, I believe it would seem suspicious._

Nita looked over to him, and nodded. _I'll be okay, Kit, it's just sort of sad, remembering it all._

Despite what he thought about it possibly being noticed by Carl, Kit put a hand on Nita's shoulder, and she smiled up at him gratefully.

"This way," directed Carl, once again breaking their thoughts. He led them to an area with many large circular tables. They saw that on each table, there was a diagram of inordinate complexity.

"How this will work," Carl began, "is that we start at the first table, and diagram. We work on that spell, edit it if need be, and then perform it. Then we take a break, maybe change the Kernel to suit the next one, and continue down the line. Right now the Kernel is set to how it needs to be for the first one. We will begin when Chiao gets here, which should be soon."

Nita and Kit both nodded, and Kit asked, "what do we do until then?"

"What'd I miss?" said the Transcendent Pig, suddenly appearing behind all of them, and they all turned to look at it.

_You're always smiling, or at least you seem to be, you know that? _Nita said mentally to the Pig.

_I find no reason not to smile, _Chiao answered, smiling at her.

"Well then," continued the Pig, "are we going to start or not?"

Everyone gathered around the first table, and proceeded to closely examine each carefully written symbol of the Speech, making sure that they were written correctly.

"Carl, who prepared these spells?" Nita asked, half-bent over the table.

"They were actually written several years ago, though Tom helped me prepare them last night. We need to check closely for mistakes, because they technically could be obsolete. For example, if there are any symbols relating to the conditions of Earth, make sure that they're the present conditions, and not the conditions of when the spell was first written."

Five minutes passed with the wizards and the Pig just inspecting the diagram. Finally, about ten minutes after when they had started, Nita straightened her back. "I think it's correct," she said.

Carl also stood, and stretched, nodding in agreement. He looked questioningly at Kit and Chiao who responded with, "I think so," (Kit) and "It seems to be successfully altered" (Chiao).

They arranged themselves around the table so that they were equally spaced. Nita reached out and took Kit's hand, and Carl's on her other side. Kit and Carl reached out their hands towards the Pig, but it shook its head, so they instead held hands across the table.

Slowly, and as one, the wizards began reading the spell, the Pig staying silent. All it would read was its own name, seeing as it wasn't exactly a wizard. It would simply be tying its name into the spell so that it could provide a power source for the spell.

The spell took, and the immobility set in as the tempo increased, the wizards' voices still matching in perfect harmony. They could feel energy draining out of them slowly, and being added to the spell, now working.

One by one they recited their names, and while doing so, Nita remembered something. _Kit, _she said, _our names have always changed to account for what changes our friendship and partnership has gone through…do you think they changed this time?_

_Let's hope not. Otherwise, Carl and Chiao will probably notice. That would be bad. We never theorized how Chiao would react…_

_It knows already, _Nita said, _did I not tell you what prompted me to attempt telling you how I felt?_

_Tell me later, then, _Kit said, before reading his own name aloud. Nita read hers as well, and the spell continued.

The wizards made their best efforts to look towards the Pig, and Chiao took a breath before reciting his own name. Nita was surprised at how short the name was, maybe just two or three characters in the Speech. But as Chiao read it, she could simply sense the underlying detail hidden behind the words. _Transcendency, _it seemed to whisper, _is never all that it seems…sometimes more of a punishment than a blessing…_

Chiao's voice silenced, and once again as one, the wizards read the last symbol, the binding of the Wizards' Knot.

The resulting silence was deafening. The wizards were about to start talking and clearing up the spell, but they were stopped as the near complete immobility was still in effect.

Finally, with a general "ow!" from everyone but Chiao, the spell fully completed, breaking the immobility and giving the wizards headaches (the reason for the "ow!").

Nita had closed her eyes during the spelling, and as she squeezed them tighter shut now, the headache slowly fading, to be replaced by exhaustion. She cleared her throat, and said faintly, "Kit, are you okay?"

"I think so," came a weak reply, and Kit cleared his throat also.

Nita, eyes still closed, reached out for him with her left hand as she realized that they weren't holding hands anymore. She felt her hand brush Kit's, and he entwined his fingers with hers. Nita could sense the relief that came over them as they took comfort in the fact that the other was there.

They both slowly opened their eyes, and looked around them, realizing that the spell seemed to have done what it was supposed to. They looked to Carl and Chiao, and saw that their eyes were still closed. As Chiao's eyelids began to move, Nita and Kit looked at each other, and then frantically pulled their hands apart, blushing as Chiao smiled at them knowingly.

"Well then," Carl said, finally opening his eyes to look the situation over, "shall we break before starting the next one?"

"Please," Nita said, finding a table without a spell laid out on it, and sat down. Kit followed her, and sat in the chair closest to her.

Carl walked to a different area of the Playroom, and returned soon after, trying to balance four glasses of water. He set them down at the table Nita and Kit were seated at, and sat down across from the two other wizards. He pushed waters over to them, and another one to the fourth seat as Chiao climbed into it.

Kit stared down curiously at his "glass," which he couldn't see. To him, it just looked like a cylindrically shaped area of water that hovered a small distance above the table. He looked over to Nita questioningly, and she smiled.

_It's an invisible glass, _she said, _just feel around for the rim and you'll be able to drink from it. _

_This is a really weird place, you know that? _Kit said, shaking his head in wonder as he carefully picked up his glass.

"So," said Carl, "what'd you think of that spell?"

"Powerful," Kit said, "though it acted as if it worked."

"I'm not a professional when it comes to spells, but I think it did also," commented the Pig, somehow able to raise the glass and drink out of it.

"You realize that the next spells are going to be larger than that one," said Carl almost regretfully.

There was silence, as no one else knew how exactly to respond to this.

"Well," Nita said dryly, "at least the headache ended quickly." Carl chuckled, and stood to ready the Kernel for the next spell.

------------------------------

Dairine woke Spot hurriedly, and tapping her hand on her desk impatiently as he loaded. "C'mon," she said, "Spot, hurry up, I need to do research!"

The screen flickered twice, as Spot grouchily loaded his Manual programming. He had not wanted to be woken up; even he needed a time to rest from the work he had done the other day.

Spot produced a slow whining; his version of a yawn, and Dairine smiled at him affectionately. "Okay, I'm sorry I woke you, but I need to research a few things that could be important. Bring up the section on forms of the Speech?"

Spot did so as soon as she stopped speaking, the virtual pages flipping as if it were an actual book. Dairine leaned closer to examine what the Manual had to say.

**Content Blocked. Contact Area Senior or Advisory to gain access to said information at a later date. **

Dairine frowned. Most of the time, information wasn't blocked from her.

"Spot, open up the messaging function." She proceeded to dictate a message to Tom, telling him of the block she was encountering.

"Send message?" asked Spot.

"Send it," Dairine said, looking at the screen as a small window popped up:

**Subject is on assignment and cannot be contacted due to the Emergency state of that assignment. Please try again when the subject or subjects' status changes. **

Dairine scowled at the screen. She knew it was pointless to contact Carl, because he and his wizardly partner almost always had the same assignment status.

Dairine knew she was avoiding the logical solution to this, and she didn't care. She had gone through nearly her entire life claiming that she could solve any problem by herself, and she didn't feel comfortable rejecting the idea now.

Minutes passed as Dairine buried herself in thought. At last, she sighed, and sat up. She went back to the messaging page and entered her sister's name manually into the "Recipient(s)" box. She took a deep breath, and began her dictation in the Speech.

"_Neets, please respond to this message as soon as possible. I just found out something that you seriously need to look at, and I have an idea what it is, and because of that, I"—_and here she paused, before continuing with the words that had always been the hardest for her to say—_"I need your help"_

She let out a sigh, and sent the message. Now all she had to do was wait, and in her experience, that was the worst part.

---------------------------

Nita blindly sat down, eyes closed once more, fighting down a headache that was worse than the last four put together. They had just finished the fifth spell out of seven, and she almost didn't want to know how powerful the final one would be, as Carl had commented that they only got bigger as you went on.

She sensed Kit sitting down next to her again, and knew that he too probably had his eyes closed. He reached out his hand under the table, and put it on her knee, feeling comfort once again as she put her hand over his.

_It's okay now, _Nita said softly, _see, I think the headache's fading._

It wasn't fading, and they knew it, but somehow Nita's words comforted them both. They slowly and cautiously opened their eyes, and squinted in the light of the Playroom.

Carl and Chiao were sitting across from them again as well, and just like after the spells before that one, their eyes weren't open. It seemed to take longer for them to open their eyes then it did for Nita and Kit. But then again, Nita and Kit had the comfort of each other.

"Mmmh," Carl said, grimacing as he opened his eyes, "that was a big one."

"You got that right," agreed Nita, leaning against the backrest of her chair, and wrapping her other hand around Kit's as well (thankfully not being seen by Carl, since their hands were still under the table).

"I'll alter the Kernel this time," Chiao said, getting up and walking toward the area where they were keeping it. The Pig had seemed to be the least effected by the exhaustion of the spelling, but it _was_ Transcendent, and that made a difference.

"And I'll check the diagram," added Carl as he stood up, trying to show that he had strength, although in truth, he didn't have much at the moment, and it seemed that Nita and Kit recovered faster than he did.

With both Carl and Chiao turned away from them, Nita rested her head on Kit's shoulder, and he put his arm around her, drawing her closer as the headache actually did start to go away.

Nita reached out one arm and retrieved her manual from her claudication. It buzzed slightly in her hand, and she set it on the table, sitting up so that she could read it. Kit stretched and sat up straighter so that he could read what the message was, if Nita let him.

By then Nita had finished reading it, and nodded at Kit, who began examining the message, which he found was from Dairine.

Nita sat back again, her sister's last words ringing in her head. _I can't believe she actually admitted that she needed help, _Nita mused, _this must be something really serious. I'll talk to her when I get home…I can't do it now, I think it would take awhile, knowing her._

_I wonder what Dari needs, _commented Kit, who had been listening to Nita's thoughts.

_I don't know. We'll just have to wait to find out._

"Well guys, ready for the next one?" asked Carl, walking over to them.

Nita and Kit looked at each other, seeing that though they were ready, Carl wasn't and still needed time to recover.

"Let's rest a bit more first," decided Nita wisely, grinning knowingly at her senior wizard.

Carl was about to say something (probably to object to Nita's knowing look), when Chiao walked over, and once again sat at the table. Carl seemed to change his mind, instead sitting down as well.

There they sat for about five more minutes, as Carl regained what energy he thought was enough to do the next spell.

Nita looked over at Kit as they gathered around the sixth table, preparing to do this spell as they did the last ones.

_I don't even think I _want_ to know how bad this one's going to be, _she said.

_Neither do I, _Kit replied, before holding out his hand to her and Carl, them taking his hands as they had before.

Everything seemed exactly the same as they began the spell, pace perfect, and spell working okay. But as the power of the spell increased, a shot of panic rushed through Kit, as he realized something.

_Neets! _Kit cried in the loudest mental voice he could manage, _there's something else attached to the spell! Something that Carl missed!_

_What? _Nita asked, confused. _Kit, what do you mean 'something else attached?'_

_Something—or some One, I'm thinking—hacked into the spell while we weren't looking, or while we were doing another spell. Something isn't right,_ said Kit hurriedly,_ by the looks of it, it'll try to make the properties of the spell implode, pulling apart the very diagram, and-_

_Kit!_ Nita screamed, and Kit looked up, seeing her being pulled away, as if by invisible strings. She struggled against whatever force was pulling her away, but she wasn't nearly strong enough.

Nita started to fade, becoming more transparent as whatever it was—the Lone One, as Kit thought—seemed to be dragging her away from that area, across other dimensions or universes, perhaps.

Kit fought against the immobility of the spell, and half-won, only his hands and arms being able to move. He stretched as far as he could towards Nita, but couldn't reach her. Nita reached her hands out also, but their fingertips still lay an inch or so apart.

Tom and Chiao could do nothing but watch, the spell keeping them silent and still.

Out of utter desperation, Kit put all the strength he had against the spell, and it allowed him to stretch further, Kit grabbing Nita's hands and pulling _hard,_ his strength and hers combined seeming to overcome the power that was holding her.

With both of them pulling against the force, it seemed to weaken, and with one hard tug from Kit, Nita was pulled mostly free.

"_Kit!" _Nita sobbed in the Speech, clinging to him, and burying her face in his neck. Kit wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, even as she began to be dragged back again. He only pulled Nita closer to him, knowing that what was left of the spell would keep them immobile.

"_Neets!" _Kit whispered, also in the Speech, trying to comfort her by resting his head on top of hers, and tightening his grip on her reassuringly.

Finally the spell ended, both the power of the spell and the power of the other presence stopping, leaving everyone exhausted.

Carl saw Kit and Nita (arms still around each other), Kit attempting to still Nita's trembling form, and looked to Chiao.

_Are they together or something? _Carl mentally asked the Pig.

_I don't believe I am permitted to answer that question, _it replied, turning its gaze from the young wizards, and walking towards the table that held its glass of water.

Finally, Nita and Kit pulled apart, shaky, and worn out.

"Are you alright?"Kit asked softly.

"I think I am now. Thanks, Kit, for saving me."

"You're welcome," he said quietly, smiling down at her as their eyes met.

For a second, they just paused, looking at each other.

_You realize we're really pathetic at trying to act normal? _Nita said.

_Completely. But hey, what can we do? It's not as if we could just outright _tell_ our seniors about how we feel. That would just be too awkward. _

_We're also pathetic at making believable excuses, _Nita added, grinning at Kit, and fighting against how much she wanted to kiss him.

Kit motioned with his hand towards the table where Chiao and Carl were, and they walked there, taking their seats.

"So," said Carl, "what exactly happened back there?"

"Interference," answered Kit simply. "Something altered the spell when we weren't looking, and it messed up something, trying to pull Nita away from this universe."

"Which thankfully," Nita added, "didn't happen, thanks to Kit."

Carl's eyebrows went up when she said that. _Kit broke through the spell's immobility function by himself? Wow, Tom must have been right about him being in love with her…I don't know how Kit could have managed it otherwise._

"You're okay now, though, right?" Carl asked.

Nita nodded. "More or less."

"Why don't we do the seventh and final spell tomorrow," said Chiao, "as you wizards obviously need to rest up from that last one. Say, meet back here ten-thirty-ish?"

"Sounds good," said Kit.

"We'd better get home," Nita commented, looking at her watch, "Kit, you staying for dinner?"

"Sure, I don't think my folks will mind."

"Great. Well then, Chiao, Carl, I guess we'll see you tomorrow."

The young wizards nodded to the others, and holding hands, disappeared.

"Well," said Carl, "are they together or not?"

"I'm not permitted to answer. I already said that."

"Why exactly are you 'not permitted to answer?'"

"Because it is neither your business, nor mine whether they are or not."

-----------------------

Nita and Kit, instead of appearing in Nita's backyard, arrived in her bedroom.

"Come here, you," Nita said suddenly, threw her arms around Kit, and kissed him.

Kit was surprised, but only slightly, and he certainly didn't mind. He wrapped his arms around Nita's waist, drawing her nearer to him.

Nita leaned in more, deepening the kiss and sliding her arms further around Kit's back, showing no intention of ever pulling back. In the colors of his mind she found comfort and love that she could never feel anywhere else, a sort of unique reassurance that was purely _Kit,_ and nothing could ever match it.

She shivered as Kit moved his lips against hers, and her mind slipped into peaceful oblivion, neither of them noticing the determined knock on the bedroom door.

------------------------

Dairine sighed quietly, and knocked again, harder this time. Still, there was no answer.

She was nearing desperation; she just wanted her sister to be there, and to help her find Roshaun. She knew that only her sister would be able to aid her in this situation.

Once again she raised her hand to knock.

------------------------

The kiss broke, leaving the two wizards breathless and tired, arms around each other; minds still connected fully, as though they were one.

Their minds slowly returned to the present, and they heard the banging on the door. Nita and Kit broke apart hurriedly, and went to answer it.

As Nita turned the doorknob and pulled the door open, she saw Dairine there, and remembered her sister's earlier message.

"Neets," said Dairine solemnly, meeting her eye.

"I need your help."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry it took so long to update. I spent more than an hour trying to get the document to upload today. Apparently the new security stuff that ff.n put up to keep spam away makes it nearly impossible for the site to work with my ancient laptop (and Internet Explorer 4.0). I work mostly on prehistoric computers, so I never really know what's going to go wrong next.

I'm working on the fifth chapter, but I'm a little short on ideas, so it might be a while...


	5. Carl!

* * *

Yay! I finally finished writing this chapter! It took me extra long because of all of the things that are going on, it being close to Easter, and all.

* * *

**Chapter Five—**_**"Carl!"**_

Nita was stunned to see tears forming in Dairine's eyes. There were so few times when she actually saw her sister cry, and even then, Dairine had tried to hide any trace of emotion. But now, both sadness and hope were clear on her face.

"Nita," Dairine continued, "I need to show you something. I think you're the only one who can help me, and I—I need you."

"Of course, I'm coming. Just let me get my manual, and I'll meet you in your room, okay?"

Dairine nodded, and turned away, her mind now registering that Kit had been standing behind her sister.

Nita stepped back into her room, getting her manual from her claudication.

"Kit," she said as she retrieved it, "do you mind waiting here a moment until I find out what Dari wants? I'll let you know when she says it's okay for you to help too."

"I don't mind waiting, but how do you know Dairine's going to let me help?"

Nita smiled at him. "We're partners, and we always work together. We're more powerful as a team, than when we're separated. She will say yes, believe me."

"Good luck, then," Kit said, nodding to her as she left the room, and hearing her laughter and a "Thanks!" from the hallway.

When Nita walked in Dairine was sitting on her bed, her right hand fiddling with her necklace.

Nita sat next to her. "Let's see it then," she said.

Dairine undid the clasp on the necklace, and handling it gently, passed it to Nita.

Instantly, Nita saw the many characters of the Speech that it was made of, and squinted at the small type.

"It's just the Speech," she said, "you should be able to read this."

"Look again, Nita. It's not a version of Speech that I understand. I think it might be that complicated stuff you were studying when you were having those weird dreams you kept telling me about. I never learned the higher versions of the Speech. Could you please translate this for me?"

The look of helplessness on Dairine's face made Nita realize what her sister was thinking. She swallowed, and looked back down at the necklace before saying, "This is about Roshaun, isn't it." There was no question in what she said, for she knew the truth.

"Neets, I not only want to find him, I feel as if I _need_ to find him! I"—and here she paused, blushing, her voice slipping into a whisper—"I think I love him…"

Nita lay a hand on her sister's shoulder. "I know how you feel," she said softly.

"Do you?" Dairine asked forlornly, looking her in the eyes.

"Yeah, Dair, actually I do," she answered, blushing slightly herself.

Neither one said anything for a while, until Dairine broke the silence.

"You're together, aren't you. You and Kit."

Nita looked down, pausing before saying, "We are."

"Congratulations," Dari said weakly, "I'm happy for you."

"I will do my best to translate the necklace for you," Nita said as she saw lachrymose filling her sister's eyes once more, "but will you allow Kit to help me? I taught some of this to him, and it'd go faster."

"Alright."

_You can come in now, Kit. She needs us to translate what potentially could be a message from Roshaun._

_I'll be there in a second, Neets…_

Nita scooted over as Kit walked in and sat beside her. She held up the necklace to him, and said, "This is what we need to translate. You translate this half, to the right of the jewel, and I'll translate the left. Then we can examine the jewel together. Does that sound good?"

"Sure."

They handled the necklace as gently as Dairine had, knowing that it held much sentimental value, as well as the Speech that it held.

Nita ran her hands over the delicate chains, allowing herself to get a sort of sense of what was written there. She shivered at the familiarity of the dialect, and began reading them to herself slowly.

There were layers, she realized, many different layers seeming to speak at once. She could hear a constant wave of words, almost as if it was a spell that had taken hold of her. Nita decided to read it one layer at a time, starting with the top layer. If there was a message, it would be in the top one.

She pulled a notepad from her claudication, and then her space pen that she had forgotten had been in there. She hadn't used it since her Ordeal, but she was willing to use it now.

She began to write in the minor version of the Speech, being as descriptive with it as she could, trying to replicate the necklace, except in a simpler version. She wrote all of the layers out fully and then twisted them on top of each other so that they too would seem to be one, and would be read at the same time.

Nita saw that Kit also had been writing, and as he finished, she twisted his writings in with hers, sealing them as one with the wizards' knot. It turned into what appeared to be a necklace chain, just like the one that held the emerald.

At last, Nita and Kit looked down at the jewel, seeing what it was, and replicating that together, weaving a complex pattern until it was completely translated as well.

When they were completely finished, they held a necklace, seemingly identical to the one that Dairine now refastened around her neck.

Nita carefully handed the translated one to her sister, saying, "Read it to yourself. I get the feeling that Kit and I aren't supposed to know directly what it says."

Dairine nodded, and looked down at what she held. By the time she had read through the first symbol, the spell that the necklace was caught her. She didn't even need to have her eyes open to read it (or for it to read her), and she soon closed them, lost in pain, despair, and love.

The layers were what got her most. She could hear the words as if Roshaun himself were speaking them, but somehow talking over himself.

The first layer was important, she could tell that. It seemed to her like a bunch of numbers and punctuation marks—_Coordinates, _she thought—and was hard to fully catch at the first reading of them. The second layer was more subtle, a simple message, almost an _"I miss you,"_ but in more detail.

And then there was the third layer. It had no actual words, but Dairine could almost hear words in it, as she felt that it was simply emotion, a constant whisper that sounded so overpowering that it shocked her, and made her worry even more.

Dairine crumpled as the spell ended, falling into her bed and not moving save for the sobs that shook tears from her eyes.

Kit and Nita looked at each other, concerned, before rushing to her side.

"Dari," Nita said soothingly, "what-"

"_Go away!" _was Dairine's whispered reply as she buried her face in her pillow, _"I'm sorry, but I need to work this out on my own, now."_

Without hesitation, Nita and Kit left. When Dairine needed to be left alone, she was best left alone.

They silently walked back to Nita's room, Nita sitting in a large cushioned chair, and Kit sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Kit asked.

"I don't know. But whatever it did to her got the message through, I'm sure of that."

"How long until dinner, do you think?"

"That depends on who's cooking. It shouldn't be that long."

As if it had been timed, there was a shout from the kitchen.

"Dinner's ready!"

Kit shrugged, and grinned. "There are no accidents," he said cheerfully, standing.

Nita rolled her eyes. "You always find the weirdest times to use that phrase, it seems."

As Nita stood and began to head towards the door, Kit stopped her.

"You going to be okay?" he asked, squeezing her hand in his.

Nita looked at him queerly. "How did you know I wasn't feeling alright? I didn't say it, or even think it."

Kit shrugged slightly, and smiled at her softly. "I know you," he said, "I've known you for several years. I can just tell. Those spells earlier were hard on both of us, it's normal not to be in the best condition afterwards."

"You really know me that well," Nita said, shaking her head in amazement.

"Always have, Neets. Or, close to always, anyway. We should go downstairs for dinner, now."

"Yeah, before my dad comes up to get us."

They climbed downstairs, and then grinned at each other as they saw that Nita's father had set an extra place at the table; anticipating Kit staying for dinner.

"Is Dairine coming down?" Harry Callahan asked as the three of them sat down at the table.

Nita shook her head as she served herself take-out Chinese that her father had ordered, as he was probably too tired from work to cook anything. "I don't think so. She has something that she needs to think over."

"Something that could potentially take her out of this solar system _again_?"

"It might," Nita said to her obviously worried father. "Or perhaps just off of the planet, but that's bad enough."

"And you?"

"We're working on a reasonably local problem," cut in Kit as he took the warm bowl of noodles from Nita, "It has to do with the time/space continuum, and wherever there's space or time, we can fix it." _Or try to…_

Nita glanced over at him, slightly surprised. _Are you by any chance losing hope?_ she asked him.

_No. At least not yet…but I know that this will be hard to fix._

_It will. But when has that stopped us before?_

"I know that I probably don't want to know, but I feel like I should ask—how dangerous is this going to get?"

Nita sighed slightly. "We don't know for sure, dad. There will always be danger when you try altering all time and space at once, but we don't know the odds. I really don't want to know either."

She found herself smiling over a memory of something Machu Picchu (the One's Champion in the form of Tom and Carl's prophetic macaw) had said when they were working with the whales:

"_Never ask me the odds. I don't want to know. And neither do _you_, really."_

Nita's smile saddened slightly as she remembered all that had happened that summer: her nearly dying, Kit seeming different than normal, and Ed, the wise great white shark, giving his life for her in the end. She would never forget that sacrifice.

"Neets, you alive in there?" Kit was tapping her on the shoulder, hard enough to break her thoughts and make her realize that she was the only one who hadn't touched her food yet, and also that it seemed Dairine had come downstairs after all.

"Sorry," Nita said, starting to eat, "I was thinking." She did her best to mimic Picchu's voice as she said the phrase she was thinking of. Kit chuckled, but Mr. Callahan simply looked puzzled.

"Remember Tom and Carl's bird, the one that turned out to be a Power in disguise? That was something it had said."

"Oh right!" Dairine said offhandedly, "wasn't that the Power that possessed that weird boyfriend of yours?"

Nita was shocked that her sister would talk like that, _especially_ since Dari knew that Nita and Kit were together. As calmly as she could, Nita replied.

"Ronan has never been, nor ever will be, my boyfriend."

Dairine shrugged casually. "He really didn't seem to think so."

Nita's jaw dropped, and Kit's eyebrows went up at that.

_Why is she being like this?_ Nita asked Kit, frustrated, _she hasn't been like this for ages! I really don't need this right now!_

_Calm down, Neets,_ Kit replied;_ she's probably annoyed with herself or Roshaun, and is taking it out on you. She hasn't done it in a while, because she hasn't really had reason to do it._

_I guess. I still don't like it, though. How am I supposed to react to something like this?_

_Gently, _he said simply, and then asked Nita's father how his work was going, efficiently changing the subject.

Nita looked over at her sister and softened a bit as she saw that Dairine was biting her lip in an attempt to keep from crying. Nita opened her mouth to say something, but Dairine stopped her.

_Don't even _think_ about saying that I'll be okay,__because I won't be until I find Roshaun, and you know it._

Nita hesitated slightly to decide on her wording, and then said, "Dair, if there's ever some way on this mission that I could help you, feel free to call me. I'll be there for you…"

…_As long as you __never__ talk that way about Ronan again, and I mean __NEVER_Nita added with a slight hint of humor, _'cause if you do, I'll make myself impossible for you to find._

Dairine looked up, and in spite of herself, smiled slightly.

_Deal._

After dinner, Nita and Kit sat up in Nita's room, going over pages in their manuals and pre-examining the spell that they would be doing tomorrow, and double-checking for any interference; not wanting a repeat of today's mishap.

"What time is it?" Nita asked with a yawn.

"Eight-fifteen. Tired?"

"Very. Do you mind if we stop here?"

"Sure. My parents need to know if I'm still alive, anyway."

Kit carefully placed his manual in his claudication before gently pulling Nita to her feet, hugging her hard and Nita hugged him back.

"Goodnight, Neets," Kit whispered affectionately, kissing her quickly.

"Sleep well," Nita murmured as Kit pulled away.

"I'll come by at about ten tomorrow," he said.

"See you then. I love you."

"I love you too."

Kit disappeared, and Nita retired sleepily to her bed, hoping for sweet dreams.

* * *

_It was unexpected, and she didn't know where she was. The ground seemed to be grassy, but it was hard to tell with the thick layer of mist or fog covering everything and obscuring her vision._

"_Nita?"_

_She turned, seeing Kit shrugging. "I guess I fell asleep when I got home," he said, looking around with a trained eye._

_They heard a noise coming from the right, a noise that sounded like anxious breathing. Silently, the two wizards followed it, finding an area where the fog thinned slightly, and a human figure was revealed._

_There he was. Simply sitting there on a stone slab, looking around the area as if for a means of escape._

"_Roshaun!" Nita tried to yell, but the properties of the area wouldn't let her, and it came out as a whisper._

_The boy's head turned. "Nita, Kit. Why are you here?"_

_Nita carefully thought out her answer. "Because I can't control my dreams," she said calmly. She could tell that something inside Roshaun was struggling, fighting for a way to be set free. Roshaun was able to control this, and he did so almost tiredly, as if it had happened before. _

"_Why are _you_ here?" Nita asked softly._

_Roshaun chuckled dryly. "Because I can't control my life."_

"_Touché," Kit mumbled from behind Nita, before she punched him lightly._

"_Where are we?"_

_This time, Roshaun looked to Kit. "Ask the expert on alternate universes."_

_Nita turned around. "Kit, do you know where we are?"_

_Kit took a deep breath, and let it out. He took a cautious step in the other direction, seeming to be listening for any other signs of life._

"_I have a hunch, but I hope I'm wrong," he finally confessed, "because if I'm right, we shouldn't be here." _

_He turned to Roshaun. "I'm right, aren't I," he said simply, hopelessly._

"_Yes. If I understand correctly, you are right in your guess as to where we are."_

"_Then we need to get you out of here! We need to get _all_ of us out of here!"_

_Roshaun shook his head helplessly. "If there was a way for me to leave, I would have left already."_

"_Kit, what's going on?" Nita asked, "Where are we?"_

_The mist suddenly cleared. They were in a park, a gazebo visible in the distance and trees around them. Nita looked to the sky, but something about it didn't seem real._

"_This looks familiar," Nita whispered, "I think I might have seen this in another dream or something…"_

"_No!" Kit cried out. "Nita, don't let it become familiar. I don't want you getting trapped here too! Blank your mind of all thought. Trust me!" he shouted as she seemed about to say something. Nita, shocked by his panicking, obeyed, closing her eyes._

_Kit grabbed her hands and squeezed hard, hurriedly uttering a spell, pushing the speed of the recitation to the limits. The spell ended, and they found themselves falling, out of that world, endlessly falling…_

* * *

…And landing on soft, damp grass in the cool night.

"We made it," whispered Kit with a sigh, rolling over onto his back, but still not letting go of Nita.

"How'd we get here?" Nita asked, looking around them as she sat up.

"I did a spell that woke us up as well as transported us away from where we were. That was the only way to escape."

Kit stood, helping Nita up as well. They realized that they were in the woods, in the area where they had first met. Stars were shining overhead, the crescent moon sinking towards the horizon.

Nita sat cross-legged on the ground. "Explain," she said simply, looking at him.

Kit moved closer, and sat down next to her. At the same time, they lay back on the grass, and looked up at the sky.

"That universe," Kit said quietly, was what I refer to as a morphius. It can change on its own."

"That's not too bad," Nita said.

"Most aren't, but that one is. You remember those fantasy books, old and new, that mentioned creatures called boggarts that could change to be your worst fear?"

"Yeah, I remember them."

"This universe was like that. If a person goes there, it takes them to a moment, real or not, that caused them great fear, sadness, or pain. I've been there once, and I don't know how I survived! I"—his voice caught as he said this—"I couldn't let that happen to you."

Nita rolled over onto her side so that she could look at him. She saw that he was starting to cry. Gently, she said, "What did it show you?"

Kit turned on his side so that he was facing her. "Your death," he whispered.

"How"-

"It started out okay," Kit said shakily, "just me in whale form, in the ocean. I thought it was just a normal morphius, until I got trapped there. Suddenly, I was at the really deep part where we were for the Song of the Twelve. And there were all of the other whales who were with us, and you were there too. It was the Song, all right. Only it went as planned, instead of how it actually went.

"Nita, it killed me when I actually heard and saw you recite the last line of that Song, and then…when Ed came…"

Kit blinked away his tears, but they fell anyway. Nita tried to say something, but Kit interrupted, continuing his story.

"…When Ed came, the shape-change failed, and you flickered back to human for a second, and then…you died."

At this, Kit started shaking slightly, and Nita did what she could by hugging his hard. "Kit, I'm okay, I'm here," she said needlessly, starting to cry a little herself.

"I know," Kit said, hugging her back as hard as he could, and burying his face in her hair.

"What happened then?" Nita asked a minute later.

Kit shuddered, and Nita tightened her grip on him, still trying to comfort him.

"I screamed," Kit said, "and the whalesark started to fail. I fought against that universe, knowing that it couldn't be real. I wouldn't let it be real!" he cried, despair woven deep into his voice.

"I blanked my mind, and transited out. I couldn't wake up normally, I had to transit. I didn't care where to…

"So the transit ended, and I was at your house. In your room, actually. Well, for a second, I just stood there, watching you, and making sure that I still wasn't dreaming. Then I transited back to where I was before I had fallen asleep."

"Kit, when did this happen?"

"The first week of that vacation I went on. About two or three weeks ago."

"I'm so sorry that that happened," Nita whispered. Suddenly, she blinked, and started to stand up.

"Nita, don't"-

"Kit, I'm not leaving without you, don't worry. Come on," she said, helping him up, and slipping her arm around his back as she led him away from where they were.

They walked for about ten minutes, until they reached what looked like a park, a white gazebo in the distance…

"Nita," Kit hissed, "is this"-

"Shhhh," Nita hushed, walking carefully through the mist that was gathered over the grass. They walked to an area where the mist cleared, and found a large stone slab set into the ground.

Nita knelt by the slab, and Kit knelt next to her. They leaned forward to read the inscription in the stone. There was a date of birth, and a date of death, and the name:

**ELIZABETH CALLAHAN**

_Loving Mother,_

_Wife, and Sister._

Under it there was a name in the Speech, a word that only wizards could see, with the exception of Harry Callahan.

"I guess I remembered where I recognized the dream from," Nita said, before tears choked her into silence.

For a while they just sat there, hugging each other hard, both of them having fears and grief to bear. Kit cleared his throat suddenly, and began a slow recitation of the Lord's prayer. Nita, not even remembering when she had last prayed, joined in along with him.

They recited that prayer as they would have recited a spell, and the world silenced around them, leaning in closer to hear the whispered words.

"…Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors…"

At the last verse, their voices rose, almost a proclamation of this final, powerful sentence.

"…And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil, for Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory Forever…Amen."

It wasn't exactly an "Amen," but more of a wizard's knot in the way they said it, binding it to them on that cool summer night.

The sounds slowly faded back in around them, as if someone had turned down the volume temporarily, and was now turning it back up.

Nita gently snuggled deeper into Kit, burying her face in his shoulder as he shifted position slightly.

"Nita, y'know what I just realized?" he asked.

"What?"

"We just prayed in the Speech."

There was a moment of reverent silence, but it didn't last long, as Nita completely cracked up laughing.

"Neets, what is it?" Kit asked, thoroughly confused, as Nita tried to control her laughter, and it dwindled to a chuckle.

"Just something I read in the manual a while ago. There was something about synonyms for the word 'wizard.' One of them was 'mantis' which means, 'wise person,' which is also what 'wizard' means. It's just, when you said that we had just said a prayer in the Speech, it reminded me…"

"What?"

"We were praying mantises! I know, lame joke," Nita said, shaking her head.

Kit chuckled, and said, "That is funny, though I don't know if anyone else would get it."

Nita looked up at Kit, and said, "Kit, we need to go to bed if we want to have enough energy to do the spell tomorrow."

Kit nodded. "Sure. I'll walk you home."

Nita shook her head. "I'll transit. I don't want to wake up my dad or Dairine."

"All right. I'd better do the same."

Kit turned to go, but Nita held him back. She would have kissed him, but in the place where they were it didn't quite seem right, so she hugged him instead, before disappearing once again to her room.

Kit stood in silence for a minute, before gently laying his hand against a nearby tree, and vanishing.

"Mhmmm, go away," Nita groaned, turning away from Kit, who was tapping her on the shoulder.

"Neets, we have to go soon," he said, rolling her over.

Nita sat up in an instant, checking her clock, and gasping as she saw that it had stopped.

"Kit!" she said, "how long have you been here?"

Kit shrugged. "For about five minutes, I guess. It's around ten-fifteen, so you'd better get ready. I'll meet you downstairs?"

"Right. Sure. Remind me to change the batteries in my clock, later, okay?"

"Deal. Hurry up!" he said, leaving the room.

Nita would have very much liked to sleep later, but instead she rushed to get ready, as she had the first day of this mission.

"Here," she yelled, pulling a brush through her damp hair as she ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, nearly slamming into Kit, who caught her as she tripped.

"Hey," he said, "we've got a few minutes, calm down. We're not late yet." He handed her a warm omelet, and attached another charm onto her charm bracelet.

"What's that?" Nita asked between bites of breakfast.

"The spell that'll get us to the Playroom. I preset it before I came over."

Nita finished, and put down the plate. "Thanks," she said. "I think we'd better get going now?"

Kit nodded, grabbing her hand, and reciting the last word of the spell.

Nita looked around her once more, before her jaw dropped.

"Carl!"

* * *

So review, and tell me what you think!


	6. Together

**Earth-bound phoenix: Thanks! I tried hard to get that part right.**

**Second daughter of Eve: Here's the update! Sorry it took so long...lotta stuff going on...**

**--**

**Chapter Six—**_**"Together"**_

Carl was lying on his back on the cold, hard floor. Blood was coming from a cut on his forehead, though not too much of it.

Nita and Kit ran over to him, noticing that Chiao wasn't there, and neither was anybody else.

Nita carefully rolled Carl over, as Kit felt Carl's wrist for a pulse, both he and Nita sighing with relief as he found one.

Nita said four sharp words in the Speech, which gave Carl the wizardly equivalent of someone dumping a glass of cold water over his head.

"Ahh!" Carl shrieked in surprise, and sat up, shaking his head, then pressing his hand against the wound on his head, which he healed as he muttered something in the Speech.

"Carl, what happened?" asked Nita hesitantly.

"The Lone Power was here when I first arrived, a couple of minutes ago," said Carl weakly, standing up clumsily. Nita and Kit helped him over to a table, where he sat down.

"It was messing with the spell. It saw me, and that's all I remember before I blacked out. Guys, check the spell very carefully before you perform it. Do either of you have a phone on you?"

Kit shook his head, but Nita pulled a small silver cell phone out of her claudication, and handed it to Carl.

Carl dialed quickly, and held the phone to the side of his face.

"Tom? Yeah, it is Carl. No, everything's fine! Okay, so everything's not _exactly _fine, but—Tom, hold on! I was just wondering if you could step in for me today, if the assignment's going okay on your end."

There was a minute of silence, before Carl said, "Good. I'll explain when I get back. Talk to you soon. Goodbye."

He hung up, and turned back to Nita and Kit.

"I'll be going back there, and Tom will be taking my place today. Remind him to check the spell, you two, and tell Chiao what happened as well. It might be some help in making this place safer than it already is."

Carl nodded, and disappeared.

Nita shivered slightly as the air imploded into the area where Carl had been standing.

"Thanks, Kit," Nita said suddenly, looking up at her wizardly partner, and kissing him lightly on the cheek.

"What for?"

"Waking me up, making breakfast, presetting the spell," she ticked these off on her fingers, "and everything else you've always done for me."

"It's not _that_ much…" Kit mumbled, fighting embarrassment.

"Yes it is," Nita protested, stepping closer and hugging him.

Kit hugged her back, and started to say, "I love you," but broke off halfway through and said a feeble, "you're welcome."

Nita pulled back, assuming what had happened, and as she turned around, saw that she was right; Tom had appeared.

"And what," Tom asked with curiosity, "do we have here?" He was looking mostly at Kit as he said this, and Kit winced, blushing.

"All right, never mind that, then," Tom said, changing the subject, if temporarily, out of respect for how he knew Kit was feeling.

"I thank you two for taking care of Carl while I wasn't around," he said, speaking to Nita and Kit as if they were Carl's baby-sitters rather than his friends. "We should get working on that spell. Do you know when Chiao is supposed to be here?"

The younger wizards shook their heads, and Tom sat down at a table when they did.

"We'll have to wait, then," Tom said needlessly, looking back and forth between the others suspiciously. They blushed again, and seemed about to say something, but were gladly interrupted by the appearance of the Pig.

"Is Carl okay?" was Its first concern, as it saw that Tom was there instead.

"He will be, he just got scratched up a bit when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named appeared here not long ago."

Kit and Nita turned to Tom, slightly amused.

"Harry Potter, much?" asked Kit as Nita snickered.

Tom winced. "I just went to see the latest movie with my nephews. I guess it rubbed off on me. But you must admit there are some similarities between that You-Know-Who, and this one."

"Like the pure evil, inability to love, greed, and strange relatives," added Nita in an undertone.

"Anyway," Chiao said, "we should check the spell."

"Carl did warn us to do that, and extra carefully," said Kit.

They cautiously walked across the room and past empty tables to the one containing the diagram. They touched it carefully, as if afraid that the slightest of movement would set it off like a bomb.

The wizards and Pig checked every symbol carefully, not leaving any out. Then they checked it twice, to be sure. There was nothing wrong with the spell: no incorrect dates or altered names; and no added parts or messed up configurations either.

The wizards looked at each other in bewilderment, shaking their heads.

"I don't understand," whispered Kit.

"Neither do I," mumbled Tom. "But shall we begin?"

Nita nodded, and held out her hand to Kit. He shook his head, and put an arm around her instead. She hesitantly submitted, putting her arm around him as well. They extended their other hands to Tom, who took them in a tight grasp.

Almost in fear, they began the reading slowly, the spell almost sounding like a song; Nita's now soft voice harmonizing with Kit and Tom's deeper tones, the result sounding like a well practiced choir performing at a church event.

And also like a choir continuing a song, they increased in tempo and volume.

As the spell released, Nita and Kit felt Tom's hands suddenly pulling away from their own, and reached out to him again. When he didn't respond, Kit wrapped his other arm around Nita as well, holding onto her tighter.

Almost too suddenly, and in less time than all of the other spells, it ended. Unfortunately, no matter how short it was, it hurt a lot worse.

When Nita finally recovered from having blacked out from the pain of the headache, she found herself lying on a cold, blackened floor. Groaning, she opened her eyes upon the scene of what looked like the Playroom, but a whole lot different, much darker.

Kit was lying next to her, not awake yet, but Tom and Chiao were nowhere in sight.

"Kit," Nita whispered hoarsely, her throat now dry.

Kit reacted slowly, first sitting up, then opening his eyes to look around.

"Neets," he whispered as his eyes focused, and blinked several times to try to identify where they were. Cautiously, he picked himself up, wincing as the rough concrete surface scraped his hands.

"Is it safe to assume that we're not in Kansas anymore?"

Even here, Nita managed a genuine chuckle at his joke. "Probably," she answered. "Any idea where we are?"

"None whatsoever. You?"

"Not that I know of. If I had to guess, I'd say that it looks like the dark Manhattan, as if the Lone One has his own Playroom universe as well."

"That sums it up well," Kit said, and Nita realized that he had been writing in his manual.

"Kit, what'cha doing?"

"Messaging Tom. Huh…"

"What?"

"'Out of ambit or in transit.'"

"Try Carl."

There was a pause. "The same. And I doubt Chiao would have a manual."

"Maybe not…but let me try mental contact…"

_Chiao, you'd better be there. And if you are, you'd better use some of that transcendency to get yourself here as fast as the continuum will allow, we need your help!_

There was no reply. Nita looked at Kit, and shook her head. "Nothing at all."

Kit mumbled a few syllables, and then frowned. "Transit spells won't work either. It seems like this place blocks wizardry or something."

"So what do we do?" inquired Nita.

"We wait." Kit moved closer to her, and hugged Nita hard as she shivered at the cold temperature of the air. "It'll be okay, Neets. We've seen worse…"

"Yeah," Nita said, relaxing into his arms.

Kit kissed the top of her head.

"Kit?" Nita said suddenly.

"Yes?"

She thought for a minute, before saying, "Don't let go of me. I feel like something might happen, and if it does, I want us to face it together."

Kit hugged her tighter, and they relaxed, preparing for a long, pointless wait.

* * *

"_Roshaun!" Dairine called out, "Roshaun! Roshaun!"_

"_Dhairine?" a voice called back, hopeful; yet pained._

_Dairine used that voice as a guide, running in that direction, through the thick fog that was gathering._

"_ROSHAUN!"_

_She ran now, as fast as her legs would carry her, faster even, until she reached where the voice was coming from._

_He was worn, raggedly dressed instead of his normal elegance, and tired-looking, but he was there._

_Their eyes met._

_Dairine threw herself into his arms, sobbing and hugging him, pressing her face in his shoulder._

_He hugged her back as hard as he could, which was weaker than he normally could have_

"_Dhairine," he whispered, tears rolling down his cheeks and falling into Dairine's hair as she snuggled closer._

"_I found you…" Dari mumbled into his neck. "I finally found you!"_

"_Not quite" Roshaun answered sadly._

_Dairine pulled back. "This is a dream, isn't it," she said, shaking her head in disbelief._

"_Yes. But this is where I am. Now you just have to find me in the waking world."_

_Dairine frowned in frustration. "Can you give me any hints?"_

_Roshaun smiled, and some of his dignity seemed restored to him. _

"_Talk to your sister."_

"_That's not a hint!"_

"_Yes, it is." He frowned. "I know you don't like accepting help, but you're going to have to get used to it. I know I am…"_

"_What do you mean?" Now Dairine was getting confused._

"_I can't get out of here alone, can I?" Ro inquired. "I need _your _help." He leaned closer, and touched his forehead to hers._

_Dairine's breath caught in her throat, as she relaxed against him again, her heart pounding dangerously fast._

"_Dhair," Roshaun whispered, "I need you!"_

_He lowered his lips onto hers, and Dairine froze, caught up in everything that had happened. Her eyes closed, and, shocked, she kissed him back. A feeling of safety overcame her as she felt him wrap his arms around her, and her body weakened._

_Suddenly, a blinding light shone in her mind's eye, and she opened her eyes, wincing at the pain it caused…_

* * *

…And sighing as her vision revealed her bedroom ceiling.

_No_, she thought, _he couldn't have actually—that's just not­—not something he would have done…he wouldn't have _kissed_ me!_

_But he did._

She sat up, weary from shock, and dressed in her typical _Star Wars_ T-shirt and jeans, smiling sadly to herself as she remembered the look on Roshaun's face when he first saw what her culture's clothes looked like.

_I really do miss him, _she thought distractedly.

Dairine carefully pulled out the two necklaces; real and copied, and fastened the original one around her neck. The copy, she looked closer at, picking out the layers, and finding the one that was mostly numbers, or coordinates, as she had first thought.

She used Spot's copy function to pull that set of symbols into a transfer spell, placing it gently into the "destination coordinates" spot.

Making sure that she had everything, and tightening her grip on Spot, she recited the spell, awaiting the implosion of air around her.

Yet nothing happened.

_Spells always work! _Dairine thought furiously.

She suddenly remembered Roshaun's advice: _"Talk to your sister…"_

"Nita!" Dairine left her room, and went into Nita's. She glanced over the National Geographic posters and bookshelves, and not finding her sister, she headed downstairs.

She found her father sitting in the kitchen, casually drinking a cup of coffee while he read the comics pages of the newspaper.

"Where's Nita?" Dairine asked hurriedly.

Her father looked up, not having noticed her rushing into the room.

"She and Kit went out already, to work on something with Carl, I think."

"Oh. I guess I'll message her instead." Dairine was back in her room in an instant, leaving her father baffled.

"Messaging function, Spot," she said, sitting down at her desk.

She typed in a message quickly:

Neets, I need to talk to you and Kit. Could you reply as soon as you can? Thanks…

"_Subject(s) is out of ambit or in transit, try again later,_" Spot answered plainly. Dairine frowned.

_Oh we'll see about that..._

--

"You okay?" Nita asked again, as Kit shifted position.

"I'm okay. Just worried, is all."

Nita sat up a bit more. "Don't be, you know we're going to be alright."

"Nita, who's going to come get us, huh? No one knows where we are…_We _don't even know where we are! We could have even been timeslid, for all we know!"

"But I don't think it's going to help anything by worrying," Nita responded gently, "besides, I'm that that spell can be traced."

Kit rolled his eyes, saying, "You're too optimistic…"

"Well then," Nita said, her eyes narrowing, "you're too _pessimistic_…"

They mock-glared at each other for a couple of seconds, before completely cracking up laughing.

"Okay, that was fun. So now what?" Nita said, chuckling.

"This." Kit slid one hand under her chin, tilting it up, and bringing his lips to meet hers.

Nita moaned softly and leaned closer, her arms coming around Kit without her noticing. Her heart pulsed faster than she thought it should have, before she realized that this was once again her overhearing Kit's heartbeat as well.

The kiss broke slowly, and Kit pressed his face into Nita's neck, snuggling closer into her for comfort.

"You're too gentle for your own good, you know that?" she whispered breathlessly.

"Oh yeah?" Kit asked, pulling back and playfully ruffling her hair, "And how is that?"

Nita dodged his hand unsuccessfully, and then ducked under it so that his arm went around her again. She shrugged.

"It's just part of who you are…It's one of the reasons I love you," she said softly.

"Awww…" said a new voice disgustedly.

"Dairine?!" Nita and Kit exclaimed at the same time, jumping apart out of habit.

"No!" squeaked the dark figure coldly, pulling Its dark cloak tighter around It, "No I'm not that little brat, but I suppose I _did_ sound like her that once."

The wizards looked at each other before almost laughing at the Lone Power's voice now so high-pitched.

"Fairest and Fallen," Kit began, "We greet Thee with defiance, do Your worst…but before you do, would you mind explaining what you did to your voice?"

It folded Its arms glared at them, icy fire in Its eyes, and muttered something about spell mix-ups.

Nita laughed.

"Well then Neets," Kit continued, "Do you want to expel it, or should I?" Nita grinned.

"Together."

* * *

Finally finished with this chapter!

And I think there won't be any more computer problems...because I got a new laptop!! (Finally)

I want at least three or four reviews on this chapter before I update next...please review!


	7. Wow

Hello! Sorry the long time it took to update. I went on vacation to New York City for a while, and it was awesome! I saw the Pan Am building, and the heliport on top, and it was so cool! I could so picture evil helicopters landing there!

Ok, so on with the chapter:

* * *

_**Chapter Seven—"Wow"  
**_

Dairine once again stormed into her sister's room, and began rummaging through her sister's things. She let all thoughts of "respect for others property" leave her head as she dumped all the drawers in her sister's desk and dresser.

She knew she didn't necessarily have to rush like this, but for her, faster was always better, no matter what it was about.

She prodded the piles roughly, running her fingers through the pencils and stray socks that were now mixed. At last her hands found what she was looking for: A thin chain of symbols in the Speech, woven into the shape of a loose necklace.

She pulled on it, and then yanked as it got tangled. Immediately, she feared that if she pulled hard, she might break it, so she bent down, and disentangled it instead.

Handling it almost as gently as the emerald necklace, she fastened it around her neck.

_You don't know how to use that…_said a small voice in Dairine's head that she realized was not her own.

_I do too! _Dair objected; _I've seen my sister use it…_

_But have _you_ ever used it before? _that slightly familiar voice taunted.

_No…_

_Told you so, _that voice said, and she caught the mental hint of a smile.

_Who _are_ you? _Dairine asked curiously.

_The Great Hound; Defeater of the Wolf that Ate the Moon, and as one very amused Transcendent Pig commented, I am the One's 'spell-it-backward' joke…_

The answer struck Dairine with a series of mental images: the darkness over the moon, wizards crying out at the pain of that darkness, Kit crying as he stared up at the darkness receding, and Chiao, grinning, and commenting on the new, Canine One.

_Ponch!_

_True…I was going to try to be normal and beg you for dog biscuits, but it would be practically impossible to get them to me in my current state…later, though…_

_But Ponch, _Dairine protested, _you should be with Kit, not helping me!_

_Kit's has Nita for this one. I was sent to help you find your boyfriend._

_He's not my—well, whatever, Ponch. Fine then, help me._

_One moment while I change state…and take off that lucid dreaming necklace, Dairine. Now. Before you hurt someone…_

Ignoring the joking insult, Dairine obligingly unfastened the clasp, then put the necklace on her sister's desk. She frowned at the mess she'd made.

_I guess I'll clean it up when I get back…_

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Dairine called to her father as she swept past him.

As she opened the door, a smile came to her face. There sat the neighborhood's stray sheepdog, collar on, and leash in mouth.

_Well? Have any leftover dog biscuits? Or chicken?_

Dairine walked back into the kitchen, motioning the dog inside.

"Uh…Dad? Do you think the leftovers from last week are still good?"

Her father put down his paper and stared at her blankly for a few seconds.

"That chicken stir-fry?" he asked, puzzled.

At the word "chicken," the sheepdog had trotted into the kitchen, tail wagging.

_Chicken? Where?! Oh. How do you do, Mr. Callahan._

Harry Callahan had long ago learned enough of the Speech to hear this dog talk. He raised his eyebrows, taking in Ponch's new appearances.

"And why is he here? I though he was transcendent, or holy, or something, now."

Dari grinned. The terms 'holy' and 'transcendent' weren't exactly good enough description for what Ponch was now. 'God' was more like it, though not exactly right.

"He's helping me, dad. That good enough?"

Mr. Callahan grinned. "Sure. I think the chicken might still be good, by the way.

_Please and thank you! _Ponch said enthusiastically, his tail wagging.

--

"Well," Kit said, bringing up the shield spell, "how exactly should we get rid of It; defenestration, or deflagration?"

Nita grinned. "A combination, perhaps? Set it on fire, and _then_ throw it out the window? Well, if there _was _a window in this place…"

"This is not a joking matter!" the Lone One squeaked.

"Who's joking?" Kit asked.

The Lone Power stamped Its foot, and for a moment seemed like a frustrated six-year-old, rather than the creator of death.

"This is all I need! I come here trying to be a friend, trying to _help, _and all I get from you wizard-folk is hatred! Hatred and spite!"

It threw a minor lighting bolt into the air for emphasis.

"'Greetings and defiance' you say, you say it again and again! I am sick and tired of your defiance, and I want to change that! Do you not see that I am not the evil one here?!"

Nita and Kit stared at it, then turned mentally towards each other.

_Well? _Nita asked, _do you believe It?_

_I dunno, _Kit answered, _It seems to be…truthful…Maybe. Hmm…what to do…_

_I have an idea…_

"Does this place have a spellblock or something?" Nita asked the Lone One, in a boredly curious tone.

It frowned. "Not one that I put here. But maybe there is."

_Kit, I have a hunch. Back me up on this one, okay? Whatever I do?_

Kit smirked. _What, like I'd suddenly decide not to trust you? 'Course I'll help._

_Good._

"We reject your offer of help. We have no way of trusting you after everything else that you did to us, so how can we believe you? Your logic must be sorely distorted to think that we might listen to you!" Nita said calmly.

"And when all other troubles that have come to us during our time as wizards have been from you, why would we believe that this isn't your doing as well?" added Kit.

The Lone Power looked like he was going to throw a fit. At the last second, he somehow regained his composure, and returned to glaring at them.

"Fine," it snapped, sounding again like Dairine, "I don't have time for this. If you can't trust me, then I'll just _leave_!"

And in truth, it probably intended to do just that.

It reached out a hand into the air, and pinched Its long dark fingers around nothingness. It twisted the nothing, and with silence that was deafening…

…Nothing happened. Nothing at all.

It frowned, and then tried throwing another lightning bolt to express Its anger, but again, nothing happened.

Nita's unsurprised expression gave away her knowledge of the situation.

"Neets," Kit mumbled, nudging her gently with his elbow, "what's going on?"

Nita didn't answer immediately, instead finding Kit's hand and pulling it around her waist for support. She leaned into him, relishing the feel of it, and then answered.

"There is a spellblock here," Nita spoke calmly, "But it doesn't only work on us. You," she said to the Lone power, "you said you're here to help us?"

It scowled. "Yes, I did say that."

"Then your power is different," Nita continued. "It changed to your current state of being. Normally your power is partially fueled by malice, wanting revenge. Now, though, since you came to be a help, your power is fueled by the will to save, and the assist."

Kit stared. "Wizardry?" he asked, understanding.

"Well, he is preserving life, in a way. I think it is wizardry."

"I get it. That really doesn't help our situation, now does it?"

"No, Kit, it doesn't. But it does prove our theory."

"What are you two talking about?!" screamed the Lone Power, glaring darkly at them both.

Kit shrugged. "We thought you were going to take the opportunity of changing that we gave you, and you did. Well, partially."

"And since you're now the 'good guy,' it seems that you're stuck here with us. This spellblock doesn't allow good magic."

"Well…what are we going to do about this, then?" It asked, restraining anger.

Nita and Kit looked at each other. "We keep waiting," Kit admitted helplessly, sitting down, and pulling Nita close to him again.

The Lone One sat calmly, the fabric of Its long robes flowing around It on the cement.

Nita had already snuggled into Kit, rubbing her face against his neck.

"I'll have none of that!" The Lone Power exclaimed.

The wizards looked up to see the Power's disgusted facial expression, and instantly blushed out of habit, though they didn't let go of each other.

"Do I honestly have to be tortured twice? Isn't it tormenting enough having to sit here with _you_, without also being nauseated?"

"Fine," Kit and Nita sighed, pulling away the slightest bit, their arms still around each other.

The Lone one sighed, and pinched the bridge of Its nose in exasperation. "Is that the best you can do?" It asked, strained.

Nita's fingers dug into Kit's back, refusing to let go.

Kit shook his head at the Power. "I'm not letting go of her," he stated defiantly.

"I've never understood this," The Lone One said, motioning towards their tight embrace.

"What?" Nita asked.

"This!" It pointed again.

"Love," Kit answered Nita's question. "It doesn't understand love."

"Oh," Nita said plainly.

"What about it don't you understand?" she directed at the Power.

"What is there that is understandable?" It shot back, still looking repulsed. As Nita was about to respond, it held up a hand.

"No—a change of subject, before you answer. Why did that lightning spell work earlier, and not now, if the spellblock does affect my magic as well? How do you explain that?" It seemed bewildered.

"It wasn't until after you threw that first lightning bolt that you had fully decided that you were on our side in this case. That's when your anger stopped fueling you," Kit explained.

"Oh." It frowned. "Are you saying that if I were evil again, I could get out of here?"

Now it was Kit's turn to frown. "Well…yes…but something tells me that it isn't that simple. I think it might take longer than just a minute or so. It took you _ages_ to change to good, and it would probably take that much time to change back."

"Kit?" Nita whispered suddenly.

"What is it, Nita?"

"I dunno," she said, her voice shaking, "I can't tell if I'm just paranoid, or if this is some sort of precognition, but I feel _really_ horrible, like something bad is going to happen."

"Shhhh," Kit comforted, "I'm here for you. If anything goes wrong, we're in this together. Don't forget that."

Nita shuddered once from the pain she felt through her emotion, and sank deeper against Kit.

"Hey, get some rest, Neets. We've been here for a while, and you need it," Kit added after some consideration.

"But if I sleep, then-"

"Nita," Kit interrupted, "I think I can manage. We're obviously not going anywhere, and nothing's happening. It's okay."

Nita seemed conflicted as she thought this over, yet finally sighed and said, "Wake me if something happens?"

"Of course." Kit shifted position so that she was more comfortably cradled in his arms, and leaned back against the nearby wall.

Kit watched as she slowly fell asleep, her eyes closing, and her body relaxing. He waited until her breathing had evened out before looking back to the dark Power again.

The Lone One was looking at Nita, examining her peacefulness, and seeing how relaxed she was able to be.

"I don't understand how you can do it," It finally asked, in whisper.

"Do what?"

"How you can trust someone so much, enough to give yourself away to them. Both of you seem not to care that in this; you're risking your life on the strength of another. If the other should fail, your entire existence would fail with it. How can you be so daring?"

Kit thought on the subject for a moment, before cautiously responding.

"It doesn't seem to be that much of a risk, to me. It never does, seeing as that if something were to happen to her, if she should 'fail' as you put it…my own life wouldn't mean anything to me anymore. I see not much point in living without her. I would almost welcome death, at that point. It would be what would bring us together, in the end."

The Lone One hung Its head slightly. "Not _my_ death. That only condemns the innocent, hurts the blameless, kills those who don't deserve it. It does nothing in bringing people together after life."

"No…but it starts the process. Your death only does the killing, the ending of life. Yet even in that, it leads to the beginning of _endless_ life, from which none can ever die."

"Timeheart?" the Power asked, unbelieving.

"It's where what loves, and is loved, is preserved. I think of it more as a pathway. Nita puts all her trust in the fact that one day, it will lead her back to her mother. And I trust in the fact that it will lead me to Nita, when the time comes. Or, lead her to me, depending…"

Here he stopped, lost once again in thought. A small ironic moment came to him, as he realized that he never had thought that he'd discuss death with its actual creator.

"I have another question," The Lone Power asked after a while of silence.

"Go ahead, you can ask."

There was a slight pause.

"…How does it feel, to…love…someone, and to be…loved? To be that close to someone that you…love?" There was obvious hesitance as it said the word, and Kit wondered what It's motives were for asking.

At this question, a slight smile came over Kit's face, and his gaze became distant.

"To love someone, it feels like there's an extra purpose in your life. A bonus reason to live, something added onto the whole concept of life. It makes you rethink things.

"To be loved is one of the best things you could ever feel. It brings you a comfort; a certain warmth that fills you and gives you another thing to live off of; a different source of energy. It feels extremely wonderful to know that someone thinks about you, and cares about _you_¸ the real person inside.

"And to be close to someone you love," he whispered, as he gently stroked Nita's arm, looking down at her affectionately, "is like nothing else imaginable. All problems fade, for the most part, and all you can see is _them_. All else ceases to matter; nothing else is as important, as their safety and happiness_._ And that's just the mentalities…" he pondered.

"It's as if the whole world is bathed in Timeheart's sunlight; and the sense of belonging, that I truly _belong_ with her, and that I can never be whole without her, is overpowering. And in that, there is the realization that I'm only who _I_ am, when she is with me."

The two sat in silence, mulling this over for some time, as darkness fell in around them.

--

"So how exactly can you help me?" Dairine asked, unconvinced.

Ponch put his paws up on the edge of the coffee table in the Callahan's living room, and did his best to look Dairine in the eye.

_How did I help others before you? I am the Finder. I heard you were looking for your sister. Or, I guessed that by the way you stole her lucid dreaming necklace with the intent to use it._

"Oh. You mean like how you led Kit through those alternate universes a while back?"

_Pretty much. Only this will be harder. The universe your sister and Kit are in is pretty blocked off._

"Wait—blocked off? Something put up a spellblock, or something?"

_Something of the sort. Not the Lone One, this time, though._

"How can you tell?" Dairine was amused.

_It doesn't smell like him. Well it does, he's there, but the spellblock isn't his work._

"The Lone Power is _there!?_"

_Yes. Don't worry, he's not attacking them._

There was a pause.

"Why not?" Dari asked out of curiosity.

_He's on their side._

"Well…that's a change…"

Ponch smiled slightly, a toothy grin.

_It is. So, when are we going?_

"As soon as possible."

_Alrighty then…_

Ponch nudged the handle of the leash into her hand as it appeared out of nothing. Dair realized that the other end was already clipped onto his collar.

"How did you…?"

_I can do things now that I couldn't before. It just works like that. You'd best hold on tight, _Ponch added, before calmly pulling her forward, and leaping into nothingness.

Dairine was startled from the sudden transition into utter blackness, and had to fight to get a breath in this strange world. She could feel Ponch in front of her, pulling her along.

About ten minutes after she had gotten her bearings on the situation, the darkness was replaced by brilliant white light.

_We have to take a few detours, and I thought this would be a good place to stop, _Ponch explained, _do you like it?_

Dairine gazed over the beautiful planetary landscape, and then to the wondrous starry skies above.

"Wow."

* * *

Ok, so it's the same as last time, I want three or four reviews before next update, and depending on when I finish writing the chapter. :D


	8. I'm Here

Alrighty then, another chapter! And, since I have neglected to add them, another disclaimer:

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my imagination and the computer I'm writing this on. Young Wizards belongs to Diane Duane.**I was surprised when I got the first three reviews for the last chapter all in one day! Wow. Sorry the update didn't come for a while, I was in an area in which it is extremely hard to find a wireless internet connection. (a.k.a, I was in Rhode Island. In a town with very few people. Or companies.)

* * *

_**Chapter Eight—"I'm here"**_

When Nita opened her eyes some hours later, she nearly gasped in surprise at the total darkness that met them. She felt as if she was blind, and couldn't see anything. She put one hand on her face, making sure that nothing was covering her eyes, and nothing was.

In the silence, she heard the sound of rhythmic breathing coming from a few inches away.

Slowly she felt her way along the cold floor, until she found the arm of the person lying there.

"Kit?" she whispered.

After a moment, there was a pause in the pattern of the breathing, and then another noise as the person shuffled around a bit.

"Neets?"

She sighed, and leaned forward to rest her head against him.

"I'm here. What happened?"

There was another pause as Kit pulled her closer, and bent over to kiss her forehead.

"A short time after you fell asleep, it just became dark. Like when all the lights in a city go out during a blackout. I guess it stayed that way…huh…"

"What do you think happened?" Nita asked after a minute, having been made momentarily breathless when he kissed her.

"I dunno. It makes things more difficult, though. I wonder if the Lone Power is still here…"

"I am," came a cold voice from a distance.

"You have remarkable hearing," Kit commented darkly, and Nita chuckled.

"Be nice," she warned.

"I was." He slowly ran a hand along her face, under her chin, and over her lips, and started to lean closer…

"Stop that!" ordered a voice from far away in the darkness. "I can sense the emotion from over _here_; and it doesn't make it any more bearable in this place!"

Kit ignored It, choosing to gently brush his lips against Nita's, and she responded with a soft noise, leaning closer as her heart sped, and her breath caught.

"_Please?!_" The voice was desperate now, almost sounding pained.

Sighing, Kit pulled back some, but slipped an arm around Nita's waist instead.

Suddenly, a light flashed on with a large crashing sound as if someone had flipped a giant light-switch.

It was not the same light as before; this was a large spotlight, only illuminating the area around where Nita and Kit were, and not much outside that circle.

Nita, blinded and shocked at the sudden burst of light, squirmed closer to Kit, and they clung to each other as they looked around warily.

A deep chuckle resounded from the distance; in the opposite direction from where the Lone Power was.

"Who's th-there?" Nita stammered. _Stupid question, _she thought sourly, _I know that laugh…_

The chuckle became louder, almost deafening as the sound echoed off of the walls.

Kit pulled back so that he could look at Nita. _No,_ he thought to her, _it _can't _be! It's already here, It can't be here twice!_

The Lone Power looked up in shock from where it sat, staring into the darkness in the opposite direction.

Out of that darkness, there stepped a tall figure. Its long black cloak billowed out behind it, and the pale skin that shone out from under the hood gave away who it was.

By this time the Lone Power had stood up, and strode cautiously over to where this new person stood.

They were like identical twins, standing next to each other as they were. There was one obvious difference though, besides their voices. The cloaks were different colors now. The first Lone One's cloak had turned a shimmering pearl, iridescent in the spotlight.

Nita and Kit got up, and slowly began backing away from the two, not wanting to get in their way. They felt a wall behind them, and leaned against it.

"Why are you here?" the first Lone One asked, Its high voice piercing in the silence.

The second Power stepped closer, and laughed again, darkly.

"I'm here for the same reason you are, foolish brother. I am here to interfere with the situation. Though in a different way, I think."

The first Lone One had his right hand out, as if holding an invisible sword.

"I'm not interfering! I'm trying to help!" It squeaked, backing up.

"Help?" chortled the evil Power, "is suddenly changing your mind _actually_ going to _help_ these hopeless wizards? Is this Life they are protecting, actually changing you too? Or is it just your delusional way of thinking that somehow this can get you back to the place that was once your home?

"Brother, believe me, that home is long lost from you. 'Timeheart' no longer has enough patience for Its prodigal son."

The first Power clenched his hand a bit tighter, and a staff appeared inside Its grasp. It was a rod of concentrated moonlight, and shone with the radiance of the rowan branch, only more potent. The ends blazed with golden sunshine, and the light glowed bluish where the Power held it.

"I am no longer the runaway," It declared, "I am the one come home. I _will_ come home!" It straitened, holding Its weapon in front of it.

"Fairest and Fallen, greetings and defiance," It whispered, in shock that It was saying the words that had recently been used against It.

The evil Power scowled, and also suddenly summoned a weapon, a sword, with a blade of icy black metal that rang as the Power pulled it from its sheath.

"You're wrong," It sneered, stepping closer, and striking out with the sword.

The first Lone One instantly blocked the blow, the staff getting in the way, and preventing injury.

With a loud growl, the evil Power struck again, putting full force behind the weapon, and again, the good Power lifted the staff almost reflexively, and batted the sword aside.

Turning slightly, the first Lone Power lifted the staff to hit the other One in the stomach, but it was thwarted last second by the Other's sword.

Fighting harder, the good Power didn't back off, but instead pressed the staff harder against the sword, forcing the evil One towards the far wall.

This was a battle of strength now, as they both put full force against the other, refusing to surrender. And it was not only a physical battle, the wizards noticed, as the fierce concentration in the Powers' eyes made the mental contact plain.

Multicolored flames and sparks shot up where the Powers' weapons touched. Neither was going to sway, at least not yet.

Kit finally looked away from the battle before them, and turned to Nita.

"So what do we do now? We just stand here, watching that guy"—he motioned towards the first Lone Power—"fight with himself?"

"And," Nita added, leaning against him slightly and wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, "above all, we're still stuck here!"

"Not for long!" yelled a sharp voice from to their left, and they stared in shock as cracks appeared in the other wall, and a large chunk of it crumbled into dust.

"Dairine?" they asked, shocked.

"Yes, now get through here _now_, before I have to come drag you!" She wasn't paying attention to the situation in the room, she just urgently motioned for Nita and Kit to come.

They did, rushing over to her.

"Dairine, what spell did you use to get through that wall?" Nita asked, concerned.

"Oh, you know, that one I used to get to mars that first time. The one that leaves the door open for a while." She glared at them. "Message me, why don't ya, next time you decide to disappear on me! I thought you said you'd make yourself easy to find!"

"Wait," Kit said, "You used _that_ spell? That horribly big one, that no one can do post ordeal, or not many, anyways? I have one question: how the heck are you still alive?!"

Dari shrugged. "I had help."

_KitKitKitKitKitKit!! _an enthusiastic voice barked in the speech, as the sheepdog bounded through the opening, and jumped onto Kit, nearly knocking him down, though Nita held him steady.

_Dai Stihó, Boss! _Ponch continued, washing Kit's face.

Nita laughed, as Kit pushed Ponch off him, and chuckling, bent down and buried his face in the dog's fur.

_Ponch, _Kit thought delightedly.

Nita laid a hand on Kit's shoulder, grinning down at him as she saw the tears of joy forming in his eyes.

"Would you guys _come on!!_" Dairine called impatiently, grabbing Nita's arm and starting to drag her.

"No," Nita objected, "I think we should stay here for now. It might need help."

For the first time, Dairine noticed the battle going on behind them.

Her eyes widened suddenly. "Uh-oh," she whispered, then grabbed Nita's arm again, and pulled. "We have to go _now,_" she said, utmost haste in her voice, _"Come on!!"_

Sensing some part of her sister's thought, Nita reached out for Kit.

"Kit, Ponch, we really do have to go. There's only so much power this universe can take, and it's about to reach its limit."

"Right," Kit said, instantly standing up, and making his way through the opening.

"_Finally_," Dairine said in exasperation, and went through herself.

Ponch came next, and lastly, Nita came through, stepping into the blackness of the acquiescent in-between universe area.

A rumble came from the dark Playroom just as Nita stepped through, and most of one wall dislodged itself, barely missing her as Kit grabbed her wrist and pulled her in.

"Ponch, help me seal it!" Dair cried, stretching out her hands towards the gateway.

_Coming! _Ponch said, running at full speed towards the passage, and lifting one paw.

The wizards got a last glimpse of the universe inside, and what they saw frightened them. The walls were crumbling around and on top of the two Powers; the floor shattered and sticking up in odd angles as the matter of the world itself seemed to bend and twist under the pressure. With a deafening _Bang! _the ceiling caved in, breaking into chunks that rained down and sent shrapnel flying.

The gate sealed, leaving nothing but the darkness, and the sounds of the wizards' quickened breaths.

"Is anyone hurt?" Kit asked suddenly, and summoned a wizard light to hover near the center of the group.

"No," Dairine muttered, and _No,_ Ponch added.

Nita realized that she had been leaning mostly on one leg, and turned to look at the other. There was some blood on her ankle, bleeding through the fabric of her jeans.

"Yes," she said, wincing, "but not badly. I think I got hit by one of the smaller pieces of shrapnel." Nita cautiously tested the ankle, putting some weight on it, but grimaced, and went back to standing on one foot.

"Here," Kit said, pulling her against him so that he supported most of her weight.

"Now what?" Dairine asked, "besides you guys helping me, that is."

"Tom and Carl," Nita and Kit spoke at the same time. "They got sent somewhere too, when that spell went weird," Kit clarified.

"Try messaging them again," Dairine suggested.

Nita pulled out her manual, telling the pages to brighten so that she could read in the dim light.

After several minutes, she sighed in relief.

"What?" Dairine and Kit demanded.

"They made it back alright. They were sent to a different universe, one with…"—she paused to squint down at the message again—"…Pirates? And giant squids? And…fairies?"

"I don't even want to know," Kit said quickly.

"Sounds like _Peter Pan_," Dairine mused.

"Okaaaay…" Nita said, "What did you want help with?"

"I…had a dream about Roshaun. He said something about you knowing how to find him, or where he was."

Kit shuddered, and Nita squeezed his hand.

"We do know where he is," Nita said quietly.

There was a pause for several minutes as Dairine waited to hear more. When they didn't say anything else she said, "Okay, where?"

"You _can't _go there!" Kit burst out suddenly.

Dairine stepped forward to glare at him, looking directly into his eyes. "Why not?" she demanded, yelling as loud as she could.

"Because it's dangerous!" Kit yelled back. Nita lay a hand against his neck, gently rubbing it along his shoulder. "Hey," she whispered so that only Kit could here, "_relax."_

"'Dangerous,' Kit? Is that going to keep me from going? I've faced 'dangerous' before, and won!" Dairine shouted.

"This isn't the kind of dangerous that you can fight against!" said Kit weakly, having been somewhat quieted by Nita's touch.

"Where is he?" Dairine asked, turning to Nita this time.

Nita waited a second before answering, sitting down on the ground, and pulling Kit next to her. "He's in a morphius universe," Nita said quietly, continuing to rub Kit's shoulder.

Dairine shrugged. "That's not bad. What's Kit's problem with it?"

Kit shuddered again as the memory hit him, once more in full force.

Cautiously, Nita wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head against his shoulder.

"Hey," she whispered softly, "it's okay."

"He had some…bad experiences there," Nita directed towards Dairine. "It's not exactly a normal morphius. It kind of…changes to become your worst fear, or whatever makes you hurt the most."

Dairine gritted her teeth. "I'll handle it. I _have _to go there!"

"Not alone, you don't!" Nita said. "I'm helping you, and you can't get me to change my mind."

Dairine sighed. "Fine," she said stiffly.

"Kit," Nita said quickly as Kit opened his mouth to speak, "you shouldn't come. I don't want you hurting like that again." Her voice rang with the truth, and because of her tone, it was obvious how much it would hurt _her_, if he were hurt.

Kit shook his head. "I'm coming. _I'm _the one with the knowledge about that type of universes. You might need me."

Nita grinned at him lopsidedly, her eyes sparkling, even in the darkness. "I'll _always _need you," she said.

Kit was cradling her face in his hands, pulling her closer, and slowly tilting her face upwards.

"Guys," said a weak voice from several feet away, and they looked up hurriedly to see Dairine, stepping back and turning her face away. "Please," she continued, her voice hoarse. Nita and Kit instantly pulled away from each other, and Nita began to stand.

"Dairine, I'm so sorry," she said.

"No…I'm okay," Dair lied, holding up one hand, "it just…feels painful, to see you together, when Roshaun…" She stopped abruptly, seeming to have said too much.

…_When Roshaun can't be there for me, like that, _Nita heard Dairine finish in her head.

Nita walked cautiously over to Dairine, stepping carefully on her injured ankle, and gave her little sister a hug.

Dairine hugged her back, then pushed Nita away after a moment.

"Hey, lets go find him."

Nita glanced over to Kit. "Are you going to be alright?" she asked, concerned.

"Yes," he said. "But can we go home and rest for a minute first? I'd also like to talk to Tom and Carl."

"Fine with me," Nita said. "Dari, is that okay?"

_No, _a part of her yelled, _no that's not okay! I need to find him, now!_

"Sure," Dairine said tiredly.

There was a pause. "I wonder what happened to the Lone Power, the good one I mean," Kit said.

"Yes, I wonder…" Nita commented.

Suddenly there was a horrible noise, a combination of the sounds of metal screeching against metal, and fabric being torn apart.

Someone stepped into the darkness beside where they were standing.

"I'm here."


	9. Ready

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Wizards, or any other series or book that I may have quoted in past chapters, or may quote in future ones.**

**Thanks to all readers who reviewed the last chapter! :)**

* * *

**__****Chapter Nine—"Ready"**

There was a sudden silence as everyone stopped breathing for a second.

"Who's there?" Dairine finally asked unnecessarily.

"I am the Lone Power," the Power said.

"Yeah?" Nita asked, "Which One?"

"I came here to help," It explained exhaustedly.

"But how do we know that it's actually You?" Kit countered, unconvinced, "and if it is You, why is your voice normal again, instead of sounding annoyingly like Dairine's?"

"Hey!" Dair muttered, and Nita snickered.

"You've got to do better than that for proving yourself," Dairine commented stubbornly. "I can't believe you _that _easily."

"It's lying" said another voice from the opposite direction; a voice perfectly identical to the first one.

Nita took a step back, and felt Kit's hands at her waist as she was suddenly pulled closer to him. She felt Dairine backing up also, as her little sister bumped into her shoulder.

_What the heck…_commented Kit from beside her.

_This is like one of those liar/truth-teller logic problems, _thought Nita, almost in amazement. _One lies, and one tells the truth. I think it'll be like that, since the good Lone One is…good._

_So you're saying that we have to use logic to solve this? _Kit asked, confused.

_Yes, _Nita answered, _and we should write down everything They say, just to be sure. I'll set my manual to 'record.'_

Nita reached into her claudication, and pulled out her book. She whispered for the pages to illuminate, and setting it to write down all that was said, and who said it, until she told it to stop recording.

_Have you ever done a logic problem like this before? _Kit asked, and then mentally turned to Dairine. _What about you? Have you ever done a liar/truth-teller logic problem before?_

_Once, _Dairine answered, _but it was a while ago. You have to trick them into telling us who's who. I know that the good One will tell the truth about who It is. The Other will lie about who It is, saying that it is good. We have to prove the evil One wrong, and the good One right, by identifying them both._

_And how do we do that? _Nita asked her, curious now, and feeling moderately insignificant.

_We ask them questions, _Dairine answered.

_There's just one problem that makes this different from a logic riddle, _Kit said. _The evil Lone Power has the ability to tell the truth, where the liars in the riddles don't, do they?_

_You're right, _said Dari, frustrated.

_We can change that, _Nita offered.

Kit pulled her around so that he could look at her. _We're not doing that promise thing again. That was too weird._

_You're right, and it probably wouldn't work anyway, _Nita agreed.

_What then? _Dair asked.

_I have a spell…it can make the Lone Power only tell lies, or at least, I think it can._

_What the…Nita, how are you going to do that?!_

_Calm down, Kit, _Nita said reassuringly, _it's a simple enough spell. It increases the power of the essences, and generally, the tendencies of the person or persons it is directed at. That means that it will make the good One better, and the evil One worse. See, it _is_ a liar/truth-teller problem!_

Kit blanched. _Nita, how much energy does that spell take?_

_Um…a lot?_

Kit swore under his breath.

_I'll help, _offered Dairine.

_I will too, _Kit added. _But I think we'll need a shield as well._

_Why? _Dairine asked him.

_If the evil One is more evil than normal, it could get dangerous._

_Oh. Sorry I asked._

_So are we ready? _Nita asked them both.

_Can we read the spell from your mind? _Dairine inquired quietly.

_That's fine with me. Just no brain-hacking!_

_Awright, _Dair chuckled.

_Okay…just…one thing first…_Kit said slowly.

_Wha-? _Nita asked, but went silent as she felt Kit's hand tracing along her cheekbone, and his mouth on hers. She shivered involuntarily at his touch, and reached out to gently touch his neck.

Kit pulled back abruptly, as they heard a mild squeak from behind them.

_Oh Dair, I forgot again_, Nita thought contritely, _I'm so-_

_I'll live, _Dair squeaked mentally.

_The spell, then? _Kit asked, also apologetic, using a guilty-sounding tone of voice.

_Are you _sure_ that there's no other spell to identify them? _Dairine thought.

_No other spells like that will work on Powers._

_I'm ready, then._

Nita turned to see whether she could tell where the Lone Ones were, and found that she couldn't see anything but darkness. She blanked her mind, and concentrated only on the spell that she needed.

Kit wrapped his arms around her from behind, and she reached for his hands, pulling them further and tighter around her stomach. Her concentration slipped for a moment as her heart rate increased, but she found the spell in her memory again.

"Okay," Nita said, the single word being the first thing said aloud since the wizards' conversation began.

She stepped cautiously forward, weaving the diagram in her head, and cautiously adding the names. For the first time, she looked closer at her own name, and saw four symbols added onto the end of it. The first symbol was the symbol of permanent change, and the other three were the beginning of Kit's name in shorthand.

_That sums it up well, _Nita thought amusedly to herself, _I've changed how I think, act, and speak around him._

_You got that right, _Kit commented wryly, _I just wonder if Tom and Carl have noticed the change._

_Ahem? _Dairine insisted from behind them; _get to the spell, idiots!_

_Right, sorry…_

Nita cautiously spoke the first syllables, letting the sounds roll over her tongue in perfect rhythm. Kit joined in almost immediately, his calm, deep voice harmonizing with hers, creating a sound much like music.

Then Dairine's voice added to the tones of the others, and the resulting spell sounded much like a trained choir, only singing in a different language.

And the language too, added beauty. The simple, yet complex pronunciations adding warmth, and grace to the words spoken.

Then, with the Wizards' Knot, there was silence.

"That was beautiful," murmured Kit, awed.

"It is one of the prettier-sounding spells," answered Nita, "due to what it works with. The depth of true spirit is always graceful."

Kit looked down at Nita, and suddenly ran a hand gently down her arm, feeling the skin there.

"Kit, what is it?" Nita asked, self-conscious now.

"I see," Dairine said from behind, inspecting her own hands and fingers.

"What?" Nita insisted, and then gasped as she looked down at herself.

"No _way,_" she said, "is this what the spell does to humans?"

She reached out to take Kit's hand, and looked at it, amazed as the skin shed a pale light, and almost shimmered as she turned it over.

"What _is_ this?" Nita asked.

"That spell was supposed to increase beings' essences, or something, right? Maybe they're Auras, then?" Kit suggested.

"OK, that is just _weird,_" Dairine mumbled.

"Hello?" Dari called out into the darkness, "are you Power People still here?"

'_Power People?' What is she thinking?! _Kit mentally spoke to Nita.

"Yes," came two faint, yet identical, replies.

"Awright then…What question first, you guys?" Dari asked the others.

"Which one of you is the good Power?" Kit yelled to them.

"I am," replied the Power to the left of them.

"I am," responded the Power to the right.

"That won't work…" Nita whispered to Kit.

"Did you kill my mother?" Nita asked.

"No."

"No."

"Neither will that…" Kit said softly, rubbing his hand over her back comfortingly.

"Just keep thinking," Dairine muttered sourly, then added, "umm…Ponch? Which way through universes, left or right; is the Crossings?"

Ponch hadn't spoken throughout the whole conversation, until now.

_Why? Oh…I see your logic. Left, I believe,_ Ponch said mentally.

"Thank you, Ponch. Now," Dari said, turning to speak to both of the Lone Ones, "I will direct each question to one of you, individually. You"—she pointed to her left—"I will refer to you as The Lone Power. You"—and here she pointed to her right—"I will refer to you as The Lone One. Got it?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Okay then. Lone Power, what would The Lone One answer, if we asked which direction the Crossings was?"

There was a silence as the Power contemplated.

"It would tell you to go to the Right."

"And the same question to you, Lone One. What would The Lone Power answer, if we asked which direction the Crossings was?"

"Right, I believe."

"Dairine," Nita said, "That method can't work backwards. This is simpler than all that. Let me think…"

Nita called out, "This one is for both of you," and then asked simply, "Which way is the crossings?"

"Right," The Lone One answered, anger vibrating through Its voice.

"Left," The Lone Power answered happily.

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that…" said Dairine, embarrassed.

"Since we know that the true answer is 'Left,' we can therefore tell who the truth-teller is…just like in the logic problems," Kit said.

Cautiously, they moved nearer to the Lone Power, and gathered around it a bit more.

_Are you sure we're right? _Kit looked over at Nita as he spoke.

_Yes, I'm positive._

_Alright, I trust you. Then how do we get rid of the other One?_

_I might be able to help with that, _commented the Lone Power mentally.

The wizards jumped as the Power spoke in their minds, but quickly recovered from the surprise.

_Okay, how? _Dairine asked suspiciously.

_Do you remember The Book of Night with Moon, wizards? And how you changed my name, so that I could change?_

_Yes, _Nita and Kit answered, _we remember._

_Well, what if I change his name?_

_What?! _the wizards exclaimed in unison.

_What I mean is; what if I change _my_ name. Wouldn't it alter him as well?_

_It might. But you two are separate beings now, and I don't think it would work fully, _Nita said.

_Wait…they're two separate beings, correct? _Kit asked Nita.

_Yes, they should be._

_What about the Book of Night with Moon? What if we use it, or a verse from it, to cast _that_ One out?_

_But we don't have access to the book! The Powers took it back to Timeheart!_

_Ahem, _barked Ponch, _but I think I could get it for you._

_What? _all of the wizards and the Power asked at once, shocked.

_I could get it for you! _Ponch was eager now. _I wouldn't have to do much. I think I could just summon it. It would be there, in Timeheart…and then it would be here!_

Kit looked over at Nita. _Do we really want to go through that again? _he asked, remembering their ordeal.

Nita looked away from him. _I don't know. Some part of me wants to, I guess. But no, not really._

_I'll do it, _stated Dairine bravely.

_No! _Nita and Kit yelled mentally.

_I will, _said the Lone Power, stepping forward, _just give it to me._

The wizards stared at it in shock once again, though Ponch only seemed mildly affected.

_Alright, _the Dog said, _I'll get it. One minute, as I talk to the others._

_Why you? _Dari asked, confused, looking up at the dark figure towering over her.

_Because, wizardling, that's _me _over there causing this trouble, and I think only _I _could stop me._

_That made almost no sense, _Nita commented wryly, _but I think you may be right._

Dairine moved over closer to Ponch, to observe what exactly the canine One was doing, and turning away from the others momentarily.

All of a sudden, Nita cried out quietly, her legs seemed to collapse, and she fell.

"Neets!" Kit yelled, the silence being broken for the first time in a while. He just barely caught her as she fell, but he did. He wrapped his arms around her, and sat down, carefully lowering her so that she didn't get hurt.

"Nita, are you okay?" Kit asked worriedly as Nita didn't move.

_Guys, _said Ponch from behind them, _the others agreed to send the book._

But Kit wasn't paying attention. He had pulled Nita's head onto his lap, and was brushing her auburn hair away from her face and neck.

"Is she okay?" Dairine asked, speaking aloud now.

"I don't know, she's unconscious," Kit answered quietly.

Suddenly, Nita whimpered, and squeezed her eyes tighter closed.

"Kit!" Nita reached out her hand and felt around the air for him.

"Neets, I'm here," Kit whispered, touching her hand.

Nita slowly sat up, and blinked several times, looking at him.

"Kit!" she said again, throwing her arms around him and beginning to cry.

Everyone else had slowly moved away from Nita and Kit as they realized that the two might want to have privacy as they figured out what was going on, so the two now sat alone.

"Shhhh," Kit whispered softly, holding Nita against him and rocking her gently, "It's okay, Neets. I'm here for you. Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"Oh, Kit!" Nita buried her face deeper into his chest, clinging to him the best she could. Her body felt weak, and wasn't responding fully to what she told it to do.

It was more than a minute later that Nita was finally calm enough to tell what had happened. She pulled away from Kit slightly so that she could look at him.

She saw his deep brown eyes shadowed darkly with worry, and said, "No, I think I'm all right now. Sorry, about…all that."

"No, it wasn't your fault," Kit said, relaxing slightly. Some of the worry faded from his eyes as he pulled her close again.

"Nita, what happened?"

She shook her head and said, "I don't know. I felt sick, and then I guess I passed out. I feel really bad, though. I think…no, I _know_ that something bad is going to happen when we go to find Roshaun."

There was silence between them, after that. They didn't even speak mentally; they just thought to themselves in the quiet.

Kit comfortingly started to rub his hand over Nita's back, and Nita was content to stay in Kit's arms. The soothing rhythm of his touch was helping her relax, and she found herself beginning to drift off to sleep.

"Guys? Is everything all right, now?" Dairine said as she came towards them.

They turned to her, surprised that she should come to speak to them.

Kit started to say something, but Nita cut him off.

"I'm okay now. What's going on?"

Dair shrugged. "The Book's here, but the Power wants us to leave. Says he wants to 'be alone with himself when he faces his brother' or something."

"Leave?" Kit said, at the same time that Nita said, "Alright."

"It needs to think out Its existence; there's this huge internal struggle thing involved with fighting yourself," Nita explained to a confused Kit.

"Right. So where are we headed…home?"

Dairine nodded. "Yeah, but Ponch is staying here to keep an eye on the Lone Ones, and to get the book back to Timeheart. Don't worry, though, he'll be back later."

"Okay." Kit frowned. "So it's later that we're going to go find Roshaun?" he asked.

"Yes. We need to rest up, and Nita, put a bandage on that ankle when we get back."

Nita looked down at her ankle, and saw that it was still bleeding a little. "OK, Dari. When do we go back?"

"Now, actually. Though Ponch says for you two to transit to Tom and Carl's and tell them what's going on. I'll transit back to the house alone, and we'll meet up later."

Kit stood, and helped Nita up, being careful of her ankle. When Dair was sure that they were both in a good enough condition to do a transit spell, she mumbled a few words in the Speech, and disappeared.

"Our turn," Kit said, and put his arm around Nita. Together, they recited the spell, and vanished with the sound of air being displaced ringing in their ears.

--

"Nita! Kit! You're a mess; what happened?" Carl demanded, pulling his hands out of the flowerbed and brushing dirt off of his arms.

"It's a long story," Kit said, "and we need to talk to you about it."

"Of course; come in!" Carl opened the sliding door for them, and guided them to the living room.

"Is that them?" came a call from upstairs as the wizards sat down.

"Yeah, and you should see them! They look like they're about to fall over!" Carl yelled back.

"Gee thanks," Nita mumbled under her breath, and Kit snickered.

Tom came down the stairs, and sat down in a one of the armchairs. "Yeesh, what happened to you? Are you both alright?"

"Kind of?" Nita offered.

Tom sighed. "You'd better tell us what happened, and don't leave anything out."

--

In the dark emptiness of the unformed parts of the universe, a Dark Power held the Bright Book. Tentatively, It turned the first page. Even in the blackness, the Power could read the type.

Out of a claudication, it pulled a space pen. He remembered when he'd last seen in, when he'd gone after the children in Manhattan. Now, he had borrowed the pen from one of the same children that he had been trying to kill that moonless night so long ago. Oh, how the times had changed…

It raised its hand, and changed three of the symbols in the name written out on the page.

From across the room came laughter, a dark chuckle.

"Do you really think this will change me?" the other voice asked, challenging. "Do you think just changing our name will make all wrongs right again? Do you think it will undo what we've done?"

The first Power ignored It, and turned back to the book. He touched the page, and a ripple spread across the surface, as if it were made of water. The flowing Speech that was written on the page brightened, as if inviting It to read it.

It took a breath.

"You'll just condemn yourself, you know!" The second Power was nervous now. "By changing that name, you too will be sent back to where you belong!"

At this, the first Power smiled. "Yes," It said, "I will be sent back to where I belong. But somehow, I think that's a different place than where you'll be going."

The first Power opened Its mouth, and read the first words on the page.

"No!" the other Power shouted, panicking.

Ignoring the other Power once again, It finished reading the passage, and the name.

The two Powers vanished into nothingness. The Book fell to the ground, to be caught gently by the great Hound.

The Hound held The Book of Night with Moon in his mouth, and carefully carried it back to Timeheart, as the echoes of the Lone Power's scream faded into silence, in the darkness.

Though somehow, the darkness seemed lighter.

--

Dairine was pacing around the kitchen. _Why aren't they back yet, _she mused with frustration, continuing to walk back and forth.

She knew she should probably try to calm herself, but she felt bursting with energy, and felt the need to burn some of it off; hence the pacing.

"We're back!" Nita called, pushing open the sliding door.

"What took you so long?" Dair demanded, stopping in front of the table to confront her sister.

Nita and Kit shared a look briefly as they saw Dairine's anxious facial expression.

"Dari," Nita said calmly, walking slowly towards her sister, "are you doing alright?"

"Yes, of course!" Dairine lied, "Now can we please start the intervention?"

"Dairine," Kit said, coming up behind, "we should probably do the mission tomorrow, and plan it tonight. We're tired, and I think we all should rest."

Dairine looked at the two of them suspiciously. Kit looked cautious, and Nita looked very, very worried.

Dair sighed. "All right, we might as well."

"Hey," Nita said, touching her sister on the shoulder, "We'll find him. Just hang in there."

Dairine looked at the ground, nodding, but not really paying attention. Her thoughts were consumed with Roshaun, and where he was. It was eating at her, a dull ache that was growing larger, and more painful.

"I'm just worried about him," she mumbled.

Nita hugged her little sister hard, and comfortingly.

"We should get planning," Dairine said, pulling back.

"Sounds good," Kit said.

Nita and Kit pulled out their manuals from their claudications. Dairine looked around the kitchen for a second, before turning around swiftly as she heard the _click, click _of Spot's metal feet against the floor.

She picked him up and set him on the counter, his legs dangling over the edge. She smiled to herself at how adorable he looked like that.

"Ready to plan a mission, Spot?" she asked.

"Ready."

* * *

******  
I apologize that the chapter took so long! I will have the next chapter up sooner this time. Review, please! :)  
**


	10. I Don't Think So

**I'm so unbelievably sorry that I haven't updated sooner! **

**My computer didn't get fixed for a long time after I posted last, mainly because the tech that Dell sent, couldn't fix it. So I had to send it to a factory to have them fix it. I just got it back a few days ago, and now it has different problems! The battery won't charge, so they're sending _another _tech to fix it.**

**Needless to say, I have been having some problems with Dell...sigh...**

**But anyways, here's the update! (:**

* * *

_**Chapter Ten—"I Don't Think So"**_

_Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeeep!_

Nita ignored the sound, and then she realized that something about this was different from yesterday.

She sat up quickly, scanning the room.

She rubbed her eyes, trying to clear her fuzzy vision, and squinted at her bedside table, where her clock read _7:20. _Nita blinked several times, and then looked at the table again, noticing a small piece of paper set next to the clock.

_**Dear Neets,**_

_**You fell asleep last night, and I thought it might be good if I changed the batteries in your alarm clock, so you could wake up on time, this time.**_

_**If you're reading this, it looks like it worked! Heheh…**_

_**Love you, and I'll talk to you soon**_

_**Kit**_

She smiled as she read it, and set it down again, next to the clock.

_Kit? _Nita asked mentally, sending the thought across his mind.

_So it _did _work! _Kit responded cheerfully, _and good morning, Neets!_

_Morning, Kit. Hey, thanks. I owe you one._

_Nah—we're even. Can I come over?_

_Do you even need to ask? I'll be downstairs in a few minutes._

_Okay, Nita. Love you._

Nita grinned, and replied, _I love you too, Kit._

Nita fished through her drawers—scowling at how disorderly they seemed to be, now—and found a pair of Capri pants that came to right below her knee.

She dressed in that, and also a blue-grey T-shirt that brought out the color of her eyes.

Nita stepped out of her room, almost running into Kit, who had just finished climbing the stairs. He looked her up and down, and smiled.

"You look lovely," he said, brushing a strand of hair away from her eyes, and leaning down to kiss her softly.

Though thoroughly distracted by intense emotion, Nita and Kit both heard the footsteps coming up behind them.

"Good morning," Dairine muttered gruffly, with a hint of pain.

They pulled apart quickly, but by the time they did, Dair was already stomping down the stairs.

Nita buried her face in Kit's chest as she looked after her sister, frowning.

"I don't know what to do with her," she whispered, "I just don't. I hope that we'll find Roshaun for her, today; but if we fail…I can't imagine how crushed she'd be then…"

Kit ran his hands over Nita's back in calming circles. "We'd better go downstairs, and start the mission," he murmured.

Nita shook her head. "Breakfast first!" she said simply. "I'll make pancakes," she offered, "do you want some?"

"Please and thank you," Kit grinned.

They climbed down the stairs, and went into the kitchen. Nita went to work on cooking pancakes, and Kit went to talk to a depressed-looking Dairine.

Dairine didn't even look up when Nita placed a plate of syrup-covered pancakes in front of her, or handed her a fork. She ate like a robot; absolutely no thought being put into her actions.

"Dair…" Nita started, but sighed when her sister didn't seem to notice at all. She rubbed Dairine's shoulder absentmindedly, and she and Kit started to eat their breakfasts.

"How soon are we going to leave?" Kit asked between mouthfuls.

"I dunno…Dairine? When do you want to start?"

"Twelve hours ago," Dairine squeaked, looking away from them.

"Dairine," Nita said sharply, "There's no way we could have started last night. We were tired; and needed rest. We'll do better now, than we would have then." She sighed again. "Let's start after breakfast."

"Okay," Dari muttered half-heartedly. She suddenly produced a small piece of paper from her pocket. Printed on it, was the basis of a spell diagram

"All I need is the location," she said. "There's a shield put into that, so that we can't be hurt. I added a mental shield as well, to try to keep the world from getting into our brains, but it won't work for long."

"You did _all _of that yourself?" Kit asked.

Dairine only nodded. "I wanted to be prepared," she mumbled after a while. "I'm done eating now," she added, "can we start now?"

"Sure," Nita and Kit both answered at the same time.

"Is the backyard okay?" Nita asked.

"Yes."

They went outside, not before Nita put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher and turned it on. They closed the sliding door behind them.

The grass they were standing in was worn down by all of the transports and other spells that had taken place here. There was a slight overlay building up, but nothing too thick to deal with.

There was a small explosion of air as Spot appeared next to them. Dairine bent over to stroke his sleek case, and then opened the cover.

Displayed on the screen, was the entire spell diagram that Dairine had written on the piece of paper. Nita reached to touch the screen, and entered the coordinates of the location.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kit asked quietly from behind them.

"Yes," the Callahan sisters answered together.

There was a whirring of the computer's motherboard, and then the spell appeared drawn out on the ground. The symbols of the Speech were visible in a pale, glowing, substance that seemed unidentifiable.

They stood at the edges of the diagram, and grabbed each other's hands unceremoniously. Spot scuttled to his own segment of the drawing, and sat there; tucking his many legs back into his case.

The wizards breathed at the same time, and then began.

In a matter of minutes, they were standing in the morphius universe; but it looked much different. It was plain, blank, white-ish colored space.

"Blank your mind," Kit said carefully as the echoes of their spell faded into the emptiness.

They didn't speak again, for fear of thinking something and having the world transform into something dangerous.

"Look there," Dairine said, seeing something in the distance.

Without a word, the three of them (with Spot in tow) headed towards the slight darkness. They felt the shields stretching with them, protecting them. Somehow, none of them noticed that the world was gently fading darker, and into color…

The four of them did stop, however, when they realized that they were walking on asphalt, not emptiness.

"What the…" Nita muttered, and forced her thoughts away from her, harder this time.

They were standing on a street, walking through a city of tall buildings. The buildings looked like they were made of glass, or crystal. They shined in the strange sunlight that fell on them.

"Is this Manhattan?" Kit asked. "Only changed?"

"No," Nita whispered, eyes wide. "This is...the mountain…"

"What?" Kit asked.

Dairine suddenly let out a cry, and pointed to the right. All of the wizards turned, and saw that distant flicker of color, a spot of pure gold.

Dairine was running, before she had even fully realized that she wanted to. Her body had registered it faster than her mind had.

She slowed as she came closer, having to catch her breath.

"Dairine!" Nita called as she and Kit chased after Dari, "Don't _do _that!"

"Sorry," Dair breathed, leaning her back against one of the crystal buildings. She turned her gaze back to the speck of gold, which was closer, now. It was a wooden park bench, with someone seated on it.

"Roshaun," she whispered, starting to walk closer.

"Not without us, you don't!" Nita said, grabbing her sister by the arm. "We shouldn't get separated."

"And we shouldn't be talking," Kit added. "I don't know why the world hasn't tried to kill us yet…"

"It's the mind shield I put up," Dairine said, "remember? It won't let it hurt us, now, but it will probably fall apart soon. I can feel this universe trying to break through it."

Dairine continued on her path towards the bench, which seemed quite out of place in this city of sparkling diamond.

When she was less than five feet away from the bench, she took a breath, and called out.

"Roshaun?"

His head turned, and his eyes met hers.

"Dhairine," he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. "Dhairine!"

She threw her arms around him without even thinking, tears starting to run down her face. She felt like an idiot, crying like that.

Normal Dairine wouldn't cry because she was happy; normal Dairine would smile, and say she was glad to see him again, and ask why the heck he'd disappeared when she needed him?

Apparently, she had stopped being 'normal Dairine' when she'd met Roshaun.

"I missed you," she whispered, and finally pulled back. He was smiling, it was true, but he looked like a mess. His clothes were faded and torn in many places, and his usually vibrant eyes seemed dull. Also, his skin was far too pale, and he looked much thinner, as if he was starving.

"Are you alright?"

"I am now, Dhairine," he said, and weakly pulled her against him. "You found me," he whispered, "Thank you."

She could hear his thoughts, now, and Dairine smiled as he kept repeating her name in his Wellakhit accent.

"Um…Not to interrupt, but we really have to hurry up," Kit said quietly.

"Of course," Roshaun said. Dairine took his hand, and tried to help him stand up, but he was still weak. In the end, he had to lean against her for support.

"We have to get back home," Dairine said, "Nita, do you have the diagram?"

Nita was interrupted by a bolt of lightning that flashed across the sky, and the crack of thunder that followed it. Then came the rain, pouring down in buckets.

They all felt like they couldn't breathe; there was no way to get out of the burst of water that was drowning them so suddenly.

_The mental shield must be breaking, _Dairine thought to all the others.

Coughing, Dairine managed to say, "Spot!"

Immediately, the rain stopped. Or, rather, there was yet another shield, which blocked it out.To a normal human, all they would see was a small computer, and a bunch of people who were somehow not getting wet. But to a wizard, they saw Spot holding up what was basically an umbrella of wizardry, and keeping them dry.

The scene of the city faded into nonexistence, and the water that poured down, suddenly transformed into the ocean. They were underneath the surface, in a bubble of air.

The water darkened, and an ominous feeling fell around them as they saw ten or eleven whale-shapes moving towards them.

"No," Kit said suddenly, "Not again!" He tried to turn away, but couldn't move

"Kit," Nita said, moving closer to him, "Hey, Kit, look at me!"

He looked up, and their eyes met, his relaxing a little.

"I'm here, Kit, and I'm alright. Nothing's going to happen, I promise," Nita said, putting an arm around his shoulder. He hugged her, and buried his face in her hair.

"I just…don't want to see that again," he mumbled.

"It won't matter," Nita said soothingly, "I'm here this time. This can't bother you if you know that I'm okay."

_Thanks, Neets, _Kit whispered to her, mentally, _I love you._

_I love you too, Kit, _Nita said back.

Roshaun looked at Nita and Kit, and then back to Dairine. _So they're bonded, now? _he asked.

_If you're asking if they're a couple, then yes,_ Dairine answered.

_A couple, _Roshaun repeated, trying out the phrase mentally. _It's an appropriate phrase, I suppose._

There were a few moments of awkward silence, before Dairine felt Roshaun shifting his weight slightly.

_Are you doing okay? _Dair asked.

_To tell you the truth…not really. I'm worried…about Wellakh. So much could have happened in the time that I've been gone._

_Your parents miss you, _Dairine said sadly. _I was the one that went back and told them…that you were gone._

_Thank you for doing that. They needed to know._

_No problem, _Dairine said.

"Hey," Nita said, pulling away from Kit, but taking his hand. "We need to leave, before something worse happens."

"Alright," the others answered.

"So, then. We have the diagram," Dairine said. "Let's go."

Nita hadn't even touched the charm on her bracelet, before a loud voice cut through the wet darkness.

"I don't think so."

* * *

**Oooh, cliffy! And this time, not even _I_ know what's going to happen next! (I'm still working on that one. Heh...)**

**Please review! It reminds me to update faster...I need to do that...**

**Farewell, until I update again!**

**Techno-Poet**


	11. Let's Do This

**So...Yeah...**

**YAY! :) Hahahaha.... I'm happy, because**

**MY WRITER'S BLOCK IS GONE AT LAST! :D**

**I have the whole rest of the plot written in my head, including an epilogue! Now I just have to get it written out on the computer...**

**And I finally updated!**

I think that after this, there will be one more chapter, and then the epilogue, and then it will be finished! One thing though: I am not planning on a sequel. Sorry.

**Just the same, I hope you enjoy this chapter! :) Please Read and Review! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own YW. Neither does anyone else, except for Diane Duane. Let's keep it that way; she writes it best.**

* * *

**Chapter 11**_**—"Let's Do This"**_

They all turned around, startled by the voice.

Roshaun instantly tried to stand in a defensive position, but almost fell. Dairine caught him as gently as she could, though he obviously weighed more than she did.

_Hey, _Dairine said, _it's okay, relax. He's like our BFF now._

_Um…what's a 'BFF?' _Roshaun asked, confused.

_It stands for 'best friend forever,'_ Dair answered, feeling slightly stupid.

_I see…_

"Hi!" Dairine said to the dark Power standing before them, waving a little. "So," she said conversationally, "How's life? …Or death? …Or whatever it actually _is_ that you are in control of now?"

It scowled. Then Its tone changed considerably.

"This is no time to joke," it said, "I don't even know how I _got_ here. I just read from the book, and then…I was here, with him." It motioned towards Roshaun.

"But now, we have a problem."

"And what is that?" Nita asked.

"This universe is on overload," The Lone Power said; "Because there are so many sentient people inside this universe at one—the maximum limit for this universe is three people—and because of that, it can't decide what to change to."

"And that's a problem…why exactly?" Kit asked, no one hearing Dairine and Roshaun gasp in unison.

"It's a problem because the frame of the universe weakens considerably when the limit is breached…it's supposed to be impossible!" Dairine explained.

"But since we transported in together, the universe couldn't keep just some of us out," Roshaun continued from where Dairine left off.

"Then why can't we just transport out again?" Nita inquired.

"Because," Dairine sighed, "With the universe in this state, a transit would break the frame, and it wouldn't work, anyways!"

"Well then, what _can_ we do?" Nita demanded.

"We can…um…" Dairine trailed off. Finally, she turned to glare up at the Lone Power. "Well? What do we do?"

"Panic?" It suggested.

_Panic now and avoid the June rush! Fear death by water…_

Nita looked hurriedly to the others, but they hadn't changed at all. Their expressions were still the same.

"Uh…guys? Did you hear that?" She asked nervously.

"Hear what?" they all asked in unison.

"I just…thought I heard something…" Nita's voice trailed off, as she looked towards Kit. He looked back, and she felt him entering her mind a little. She replayed the sound of the voice in her memory. Kit gasped.

"Wait—was that?" He couldn't finish the sentence, he just stared at her.

Nita nodded. "Yeah, I think it was her."

"How?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think-"

"Maybe…"

"Geez, is _this_ what conversations sound like when you start sharing your thoughts? No thank you; I'd rather make sense," Dairine commented.

"Sorry," they both said, and shared a small glance.

"So would you lovebirds mind telling us what the _heck_ is going on?"

"Lovebirds?" asked Roshaun, looking curiously at her.

"Not now, Ro," Dair said.

"May I ask that you would _please_ not call me 'Ro,' Dari?"

"Aw, they have nicknames!" Nita snickered.

The glare that Dairine shot Nita was fiercer and scarier than _any_ attempt by the Lone Power. Nita flinched visibly, and inched slightly closer to Kit.

"Dairine…" Kit said, almost as a warning, "Nita thought she heard the voice of a very familiar macaw…"

"Wait…you mean, The One's Champion? Not here, surely?" Roshaun asked. "I thought it had left this world."

_Yes, I did. But have some faith; I _do_, in fact, have the power to come back…_

"Uh, Nita?" asked Kit nervously.

"I heard that too. Do you think it _was_ her?"

"It _sounded_ like her, alright."

_Idiot wizards…If I didn't know better, I'd think you were all blind and deaf!_

"Yep, that was _definitely_ her," Kit added.

"Well…Tell her I said hi?" suggested Dairine.

_Hello, yourself_.

Nita laughed at the look on her sister's face. "So you heard it that time?"

"Yeah."

_So…_

This time, Roshaun and the Lone One flinched as well.

_Can you all hear me?_

"Yes," they all replied.

_That's very good. Now then…The universe you're in seems to be having some problems, is that correct?_

"Yes."

_Are you in need of assistance?_

"Oh gosh, you sound like the tech support people at the Manual software service number!" Dairine cut in, "Can we hurry it up? We need help in here!"

_Ah well. I'll be there in a second._

"Wait, _you_ will?" Kit said, surprised

"Yes!" the voice said aloud.

A brilliant flash of orange-red, a blinding burst of pure sunlight, and She was there.

"It is good to see you all again," she said, nodding slightly to all of them. "Ah—Brother! A surprise indeed…"

"Sister," the Lone One answered; Its voice a bit cold. But It smiled a little anyways, when The Champion put her arm around Its shoulders.

The image of the two of them standing together was definitely a complicated thing to behold. The One's Champion was radiating a sort of nectarine-colored light, whereas the Lone Power was still giving off a little bit of darkness. It was completely contradictory, and yet, somehow completely in harmony. They canceled each other out, yet made the other shine brighter.

"Uh…" Dairine said, shaking her mind from the sight before her, "Are we going to get out of here, or not?"

The Champion laughed; a delicate laugh that seemed to flow like liquid silver off of her tongue.

"All right, then. But where to start…" She mused.

Her eyes glazed over with a translucent blue film, as She seemed to be staring into space, concentrating. Then, the film just evaporated into nothingness, and she blinked several times before speaking to everyone.

"Right. Well, there's really nothing else we can do for this universe. It's been causing trouble since it was created, and now that it's falling apart…the best thing that I can do, is destroy it so that it doesn't have to suffer the pain of dying, anymore."

Kit gaped. "You're just going to…_destroy_ it?"

"It's really the only thing that we can do, when it's gone this far," She explained, pulling what looked like a cell phone, or maybe a PDA out of an otherspace pocket.

"But what about all of the living organisms?" Kit questioned incredulously, gesturing towards the vague fish-shapes in the water around them.

The scene suddenly faded back into being the city, with its many buildings and crisp air. The wizards and Powers stared at the landscape as the change took place.

"All of the life in this place will be moved to Timeheart," answered the Champion. "It will be alright. Really, loosing this universe isn't much of a loss."

She scribbled out a quick sentence on the PDA screen using a stylus, and silver-blue light came pouring out of the device in strands of words.

The blueness coated every surface around us, seeming to be a flexible grid that form-fitted around everything except them.

"Well, come on, then," Peach said, and _with her hands_, tore a hole in empty air. You could actually hear the fabric of space tearing as she created an opening large enough for everyone to fit through.

Dairine and Roshaun were the first to go through; leaning against each other, they seemed to be trying to keep the other one from falling apart.

Nita, Kit, and the Lone Power stepped through next, and instantly turned back to see what the Champion would do.

Peach took a breath, and then held out her hands. "Cover your ears," she advised, "This may hurt a little." And then she began the spell.

Nita squinted her eyes shut in pain, and backed off, into Kit's arms. The spell sounded like music, like most of them did; but if the spells they had done before were classical music, than this was the loudest heavy metal in the _worlds_.

It clashed and resounded throughout the entire universe, sounding like pain, anguish, and destruction. The wizards and Lone Power closed their eyes, shielding their vision from the screaming that seared the air.

It was four torturous minutes later before the spell ended. They finally had the courage to open their eyes, and blinked at the scenery, or lack thereof.

"What…" Kit breathed, feeling around him with his mind. The only thing he could see in the _total darkness_ was the glow of the Champion.

"Light," said the Champion, and the world brightened.

"So…is this?" Kit stuttered, too stunned for words.

"Yes," Peach confirmed, "This is how those empty universes are created; those places you like to experiment with. They were all created from universes that once were, but could no longer exist as they did."

"So _all_ of that empty space…that's all dead universes?"

"Yes."

"I had no idea…that there were so _many_…" His voice faded.

"They build up, over times. It's all about transcendency, and time travel theory and all of that." Peach focused in on Kit, and began part of an explanation.

"Do you remember that multiple-universe theory that claimed that there were an infinite number of universes nearly identical to our own, where just something small was different in each one? For example, a universe where someone's personality was a little bit different, or where a name or place was changed. Or," She mused, "Where someone important _lived _instead of dying…"

Kit blushed, and looked away. "I created that last one," he said, a little regretfully.

"I know you did. I'm just using it as an example, in this discussion. Anyways, most of those universes in that theory were in fact created by younger wizards who found a way into the empty universe space. They wanted something changed, and so they changed it. It's really all that simple."

"What about the theories that even book characters are real, in some universes?" Nita asked, always wanting that one in particular to be true.

Peach smiled to herself over a private joke that she was reminded of, before answering, "That one is more real than you think…"

Silence was everyone's confused response.

"We need to get home," Nita stated most obviously, staring at the Champion.

"Alright, alright. Oh, Great Hound?"

_Yes, Picchu?_

And Ponch was suddenly there, his mind-voice addressing the Champion.

"They need to be taken back to their own universe," She said, smiling at him.

_Does your brother come too?_

"I…I think not."

_Okay. Kit?_

A leash suddenly appeared in Ponch's mouth, and he whined like a puppy wanting to be let outside. Kit's heart felt like breaking at the sound. He'd really missed Ponch.

Gingerly, he took the leash in his hand, and held Nita's in his other one.

"Let's Do This."

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**So that's the end of that chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. Please review and let me know what you thought of it: too long, too short, not enough detail, too much detail, bad, good, sad, pathetic, enjoyable, strange, weird, the author is insane, etc... Any comment is welcome! :)**

**Until next chapter,**

**Techno-Poet**


	12. It's You

**Hi guys! Look at that, I updated! I'm almost sad to say that this is the last chapter, and that there won't be an epilogue (the epilogue is kinda tied onto the end), and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Today is July 4th, which means that I'm doing a special holiday update! I'm updating both this story, When Pigs Fly, and my Twilight story, Life Happens! Plus, I'm adding an extra Young Wizards short story called, Not Old Enough To Love As Yet. It should be on my profile very soon!**

**I hope you guys enjoy these! :) **

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_**Last thing that happened in the story (just a reminder):** The changing universe was destroyed by Peach, who appeared at a random moment. Peach had just told Ponch-in-sheepdog-form to bring the others back home, and he's about to do so._

_  
Chapter Twelve — "It's You"_

Dairine grabbed onto Nita's hand, and blushed awkwardly as she wrapped her arm tighter around Roshaun's waist, so he wouldn't separate from them while they were traveling back home.

Ponch stood still for just a moment, and then in a sudden burst of energy, started running at light speed.

_Hold on tight, _Kit warned Nita as they attempted to run after the bounding Ponch, and nearly failed.

Roshaun embarrassedly clutched onto Dairine as he tried not to fall over with the running speed that nearly knocked him over. It was no wonder, after how he had been held in that prison for so long, that he had almost no strength.

It was a complete blur, to all of them. Ponch was running faster than he ever had before, and the worlds flipped past them so fast, that it was impossible for the human and Wellakhit eyes to make out any shapes in the worlds they went through.

Nita became worried at one point where she was very sure that she stopped breathing, but Kit squeezed her hand and tried to reassure her. They might have reached a place where they didn't _need_ to breathe.

It felt like it lasted forever, but in truth, it was over in a couple of minutes. They all stood, holding each other together, in Nita and Dairine's backyard.

So sapped of energy, everyone couldn't do much more than simply sit down on the grass for a moment, and think of everything that had happened just now. Ponch lay down at Kit's feet and whimpered ever so slightly, his mouth lolling open lazily.

"I know," Kit said sympathetically, "Me too."

Both he, and his dog, and his girlfriend, lay down on the grass to rest a moment. It was the first moment of absolute peace they'd had, for a while.

----------------------

"What the…" came a voice from at the screen door, as Harry Callahan stepped outside to water his plants. The sight before him was a little bit more than amusing, and just a bit odd.

There in the grass, not moving, were his daughters, Nita's best friend, that boy who Dairine was trying to find (though he looked pretty beaten up, now), and a shaggy white sheepdog that appeared to be glowing.

"Nita?" her father asked timidly, shutting the screen door behind him the rest of the way.

Kit stirred, and looked up.

"Hey Mr. Callahan," Kit said and waved, but he didn't move.

"Hello, Kit," he responded, almost reminding Kit that he'd asked him to call him by his first name, but instead just getting to the point. "What happened here?"

"We just got back… everyone's kind of resting for a minute. Traveling through time and space at light-speed can do that to you, you know… or maybe you don't…" Kit seemed a bit dazed, but was able to sit up, and rub his head for a bit.

"…Are you all okay?"

"I'm pretty sure," Kit said, shaking his head to clear his brain; "Though on second thought, Roshaun's probably injured. We'll take care of that when everyone wakes up. Well, _Dairine'll _take care of it…"

"Awright. And the rest of you…"

"Just exhausted, really. Though, I should probably get Nita up to her room—Dair and Ro can take care of themselves."

"Speaking of them," Mr. Callahan said, "Are they…"

"Dating?" Kit asked, "Together? Going out? My guess is yes."

Harry paused once before asking, "…What about you and Nita?"

Kit sat still, and looked up at Nita's father, hesitantly.

"Yeah," he finally answered, "we are."

It was like a staring contest, only more painful.

"I care about her," Kit said finally, breaking the silence. "I would never hurt her."

Mr. Callahan ran his hand through his hair, and breathed out.

"I know," he said, "I know that. And, I'm glad it's _you_ she likes. If it was someone else, I'd be worried... But I know you won't do anything stupid."

"Thanks," Kit said, sighing in relief.

"…How long until you think they'll wake up?" Harry asked.

"It'll be a while. They'll probably check in on you when they do."

"Okay. I guess I'll water the plants later…"

Kit shrugged, and recited a sentence in the Speech. A small dark cloud appeared over the flowerbed, and erupted with rain for about a minute, before dissolving into mist. Mr. Callahan laughed, and shook his head.

"Thanks," he chuckled, waved, and went back inside.

Kit turned over to look at Nita, and softly brushed her arm with his fingers. When she didn't stir, he gently pulled her into his arms, and carried her into the house; up to her bedroom.

-----------------------

Dairine awoke, and turned over on the grass, brushing her hair from her eyes. She blinked into the fading sunlight, and realized that the sun was setting.

_What time is it, _she wondered. Then her thoughts went instantly to the tired-looking and injured Wellakhit who lay on the grass beside her.

Dairine exhaled, and reached out to touch his arm. How he was able to still look so beautiful, even when injured, Dairine didn't know. She almost wished she knew, just so she could do something to her own appearance, which was probably pretty bad right now.

"Hey, Roshaun," Dairine said when he didn't move, and poked him in the ribs.

"Mm…Hey!" came the objection, as Roshaun stirred, and then looked up at her.

Dairine breathed a sigh of relief, and then stood.

"Come on," she said, holding out a hand for him; "We need to get you inside. You're pretty beaten up…"

Roshaun took her hand, and lifted his tall form gracefully from the grass. He almost looked okay for a second, before his legs gave out. It was all Dairine could do to steady him, and help him try gaining his balance.

"Thanks, Dhair," Roshaun mumbled awkwardly, trying not to hold onto her _too_ tightly.

They managed to get inside and to the sofa, before they both collapsed onto it. Dairine made sure Roshaun was sitting comfortably, then flipped on the television for background noise.

"I'll be right back," Dairine said, and ran to the kitchen to grab the first aid kit out of the lower cabinet. She was about to return to the living room, but after a second thought, also grabbed the jar of lollipops that was sitting on the counter. She didn't think anyone had touched them since the last time Roshaun was in the house.

Dairine went back into the living room, and earned a quite amused look from Roshaun when she set down the lollipop jar on the coffee table.

"Thank you," he said, and grabbed a strawberry flavored one.

_Crunch_

Dairine smiled at how much she had missed that sound, and got to work.

Dairine cleaned and bandaged the very visible cuts along Roshaun's legs, feeling a bit nervous that she was touching him, even if it was just to clean his wounds.

She finished with those cuts, and moved along to put band-aids on the minor ones along his neck.

When Dairine sat up to deal with the cut on his forehead, their eyes met, and Dairine blushed.

Roshaun smiled, and quickly kissed Dairine's forehead, before saying, "Thank you," again.

"Y-you're welcome…" Dairine faltered, and tried to smile back as she finished with the band-aids. The skin of her forehead stung with a slight coolness, and her heart was beating just a bit faster.

Dairine packed up the rest of the first aid kit, and put it back in the cabinet. When she returned to the living room, Roshaun patted the couch cushion beside him, and motioned for her to sit down.

Dairine gladly and nervously sat down, and grabbed a fudge lollipop from the jar, pulling off the wrapper.

Together, they watched television and crunched their lollipops in peace.

-------------------

Nita awoke from her deep slumber and rubbed her eyes. She pushed herself into a sitting position, and it wasn't until a moment later that she realized that she was in her room, not the backyard.

Nita looked around her room, and then saw Kit, fast asleep in her desk chair.

Nita felt bad for a few moments, wondering why he hadn't at least gone home to sleep, or fallen asleep next to her, instead of taking the uncomfortable chair. She moved over to him, to look at him closer.

Nita examined his face, and then on impulse, began kissing him. Nita knew Kit had woken up, when he hummed into her mouth, and kissed her back.

The kiss broke moments later, leaving the two wizards gasping for air and holding onto each other.

"What a way to wake up!" Kit said breathlessly, and hugged Nita to his chest.

Nita laughed at him, and then stood, pulling Kit up with her.

"Why did you fall asleep on the chair?" she asked, concerned.

Kit studied her face before replying, "…I was tired?"

"But you could have gone home, or fallen asleep on the bed, with me," Nita said, blushing. "Why did you choose the chair?"

"I didn't want to disturb you," Kit answered, shrugging. "I figured that was better, anyways. Just in case anyone walked in. And it's not like I was going to leave you and go home!"

"Thank you," Nita said, and leaned in to kiss him again.

"By the way," Kit said, after the kiss broke. "Can I wake up like that _every _morning?"

Nita laughed, but shook her head. "Nah, I think I'll save that for special moments."

"…But every day is special, with you around…" Kit looked at her with the sad eyes that almost looked like Ponch's begging face for a second.

"Nice try," Nita chuckled, "But no."

She sat down on the bed, and Kit joined her soon after. They both sat cross-legged, looking at each other with fierce concentration, almost as if trying to memorize each other.

After a moment, Kit looked away, but then looked back.

"I love you," he said, and then pulled Nita closer, so he could kiss her.

He started the kiss out gently at first, but increased in speed along with both of their heartbeats. The mental feeling was just as overpowering as the physical one, and Nita felt like her heart was going to explode.

Kit's fingers were tangled in her hair, and her hands were stroking the back of his neck. Nita moaned slightly in surprise, as Kit ran his tongue softly along her bottom lip, and gasping, they pulled apart.

"God, I love you too," Nita said, and fell into his arms.

------------------------------------

_**Epilogue (kind of)  
Two Weeks Later**_

"Dhairine?" the soft voice drifted from the hallway, accompanied by a knock on her bedroom door.

"Roshaun? Uhm…Come in."

"Thank you," he said, and entered the room with a gentle grace that very few humans have ever had. His cuts were mostly healed, and all that remained of them were slight marks on his skin that would disappear over time.

"I…came to tell you something," Roshaun started uneasily.

"…You're leaving, aren't you," Dairine said sadly, and stood up from her desk chair.

"Yes," Roshaun answered, and let his eyes fall to the ground.

"Good luck back home," Dair said after a moment of silence. "Tell your mom and dad that I said 'hi,' okay?"

"Dhair," Roshaun sighed, and then "Dhairine…" He looked intently at her, and sighed again.

"Look, what do you want?" Dairine demanded, her sadness turning to anger as it almost always did.

And suddenly she was crushed in his arms, suddenly, he had his lips pressed against hers; and all anger vanished into bliss. She would have gasped in surprise, but she was silenced by the tremendous pleasure of actually _kissing_ him, of having his arms around her, and of seeing into his mind. That phrase from the Speech that had been woven into the emerald necklace was repeated now; but what she thought had been an "I miss you" was suddenly clarified into something more powerful.

They broke apart, Dairine staring up at him with almost-tearful eyes, and a look of shock and amazement.

"You asked me what I wanted?" Roshaun inquired, pressing his forehead against hers.

"Y-yes," Dairine stammered, trying to breathe.

Roshaun kissed her again, before answering.

"It's you."

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**The end! I think... I don't think I'm going to update this story again, as fun as it was writing it. More short stories to come soon, though! I love the N/K oneshots... **

**Please review! What did you think of the chapter? Good ending, or not? Critisism is welcome, by all means! If you find a spelling or grammar error, please let me know, also. I didn't have time to completely go through this chapter with a fine-toothed comb.**

**Thank you all so very much for reading and reviewing this story through the entire thing. You guys are amazing!**

**Until next story,**

**Technopoet**


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